PANEL WITH A FOCUS ON THE RETAIL SECTOR
The first panel was dedicated to the retail sector, moderated by Liana Dumitru, Director | Retail Agency, Colliers Romania. The panelists were: Geanina Ungureanu (CPI Property Group | Romania), Cornelia Nicolae (FASHION HOUSE Group), Omer Susli (Praktiker Real Estate Romania), Petru Andronic (Sportisimo Romania and Bulgaria), Daniel Pană (Facilities Management Services and EnergyPal).
“2024 was a year with positive dynamics – 170,000 sqm were delivered, slightly down from the previous year, when we had a record. But it was above the 10-year average. The market remains dynamic – we expect to have over 200,000 sqm this year, so demand and appetite are still high. We see a return of mall-type projects. Last year, Pitești was a star project. A medium-sized city, under 150,000 inhabitants, but which confirms the effervescence of the retail sector and the high demand. We expect that Bucharest, in addition to the expansion of the Promenade, will also bring large-scale projects, modernizations or extensions of current projects. It will not be an easy year, however. We have a growing balance of payments deficit, a high level of inflation. Consumption, however, had a nice growth”, declared Liana Dumitru at the opening of the panel.
In this context, Daniel Pană, VP Group Operations, Facilities Management Services and EnergyPal, explained: “Let’s look at the year 2025 – this is fundamentally different from 2024, both globally and at the micro level. If we look at the economic situation forecast for 2025, I think we are much worse than in 2024. In order to maintain our profitability in a normal line, of decreasing consumer appetite and becoming much more selective about what we buy, how much and how we buy, we need to enter the cost structure. One cost is electricity. If until now we have not looked at how much we consume, I think that from this year the situation will change – thus, monitoring electricity consumption becomes not only a priority, but also a legal obligation. It is very important that each of the retailers, among the asset owners, conduct an analysis of their consumption and energy efficiency measures.”
In turn, Omer Susli, Owner & CEO, Praktiker Real Estate Romania, intervened, stating that: “In 2024 we had very good figures, but we should not be happy because when it is an election year the figures increase significantly. For our malls, the star was Vitantis. The record was 43,000 visitors in one day – we went from 2,000 visitors per day two years ago to over 40,000. We are soon opening a 600 sq m Sinsay store at Turnul Severin. We have obtained the permits for expansion in Bistrița Năsăud. Last year we took over Muntenia Business Center. This year we have many green energy projects, which we fully support. The project in Focșani is already completed. At Vitantis, we have 1 MW completed and we have a tender for another one, a project done together with PNRR. In Constanța we have a multifilament fiber factory for car belts, for the armed forces.”
The customer has become more attentive to the price of products, but they are also concerned about quality, explained Geanina Ungureanu, Head of Retail, CPI Property Group | Romania. “2024 was a year of consolidation. He had 2023 ahead, considered the year of total recovery and with some existing increases, and in 2024 there was a consolidation. CPI Property Group manages shopping centers all over the country, and each one has its own specificity. Sun Plaza has a very high growth in sales, because in 2024 we brought many new brands and this increase was seen. The customer is very sensitive to the price side and it is seen in the direction of retailers channeled on discounts, on lower prices, but also with a fairly balanced quality and it is seen in sales on the mall side. Traffic did not increase by double digits in some cities, but sales increased above inflation, which shows that people are buying more. Hence the trend of consumer awareness in the direction of prices. There is also this experience trend – you don't just look at the price. Consumption is still constant and growing", she added.
In turn, Cornelia Nicolae, Retail Operations Director, FASHION HOUSE Group, added: "Price remains an important aspect in purchasing decisions. For this reason, outlet stores, which sell products from previous collections at 30%-70% reduced prices, make these stores increasingly attractive to customers. In the case of our centers, the mix is dominated by sports stores, which also have the highest sales performance. It is a category that addresses all ages and will always remain in consumers' preferences. We also observe a trend of appetite for premium brands. They are aspirational brands, but which, within our centers, are becoming much more accessible. We are preparing to add new names from the premium brand category.”
“What we hit during the year was the dynamics of development, customer demands – only those who can keep up with customer demands will be successful this year. The customer is changing, looking for promotions, looking for value for money, choosing to be much more informed. Looking for useful information that will help them make the right choice for their budget, for their family. In Romania, for every retailer, regionalism is a very important element. For a sports retailer, the biggest question is how to bring the favorite sport to each store. We also used artificial intelligence to understand preferences. Even in Bucharest, different preferences are observed: in some areas, there is a preference for fitness, in others for football or, in general, for outdoor activities. More and more customers are starting to choose lesser-known brands,” also said Petru Andronic, Country Manager, Sportisimo Romania and Bulgaria.
PANEL WITH A FOCUS ON THE INDUSTRIAL & LOGISTICS SECTOR
The second panel of the event brought up the evolution of the industrial & logistics sector, moderated by Victor Coșconel, Partner | Head of Leasing | Office, Industrial & Logistics, Colliers Romania. The panel was attended by: Loredana Oprișa (Olympian Parks), Olga Melihov (MLP Group Romania), Laurențiu Duică (Global Vision), Răzvan Nica (BuildGreen) and Cătălin Podgoreanu (Brisk Group).
“In 2024, demand was somewhere around 620,000 sqm, which places us 20% below the average of the last 5 years. Because I am more optimistic by nature, I would say that almost double what was delivered or contracted in the previous cycle is being delivered. It was a more than decent year and we saw a stabilization on the rent side – they stabilized between 4 and 5 euros. The vacancy rate is quite low at 4.5-5%, as it is no longer developing speculatively. I strongly believe that Romania has the potential to become a hub of Central and Eastern Europe, in terms of logistics development, especially in the context of entering Schengen”, said Victor Coșconel in introducing the discussions in this panel.
Romania has a lot of potential in terms of logistics spaces, said Loredana Oprișa, Leasing and Development Manager, Olympian Parks. “Good things are happening slowly but surely and I want to believe that we are a developer that has confidence in the market and in the customers in Romania. Of the 5 projects we have in development, 3 were started speculatively. The location is extremely important and, with all the challenges we have in terms of utilities, approvals, the location enhances the projects. It is unrealistic to expect from year to year to have double-digit increases. On the other hand, if we look at the economy and the market as a whole, things are going well. Romania has a lot of potential – there are cities that need production, logistics and storage spaces. You can also see the example of the cities of Bacău and Iași, where it was expected for quite some time that a developer would arrive on the respective market”, she continued.
“In 2024, we followed the strategy. We are still a conservative developer: this means that we invest in long-term projects, and what we develop we do not sell. Our focus was on development. We saw an interesting demand last year, and this helped us to deliver the second phase of construction of our project very quickly, we delivered 16,000 sq m. This led us to look to the future and plan the next stages of development. We are starting construction on the third phase – 20,000 sq m; we are talking about a pre-lease, which gives confidence in terms of delivering future spaces. We are also building speculatively, even if it is risky, because there is potential. We are moving forward with courage, slowly but surely”, added Olga Melihov, Chief Country Officer, MLP Group Romania.
In the industrial sector, investments have not grown at the same pace as those in the retail sector, explained Laurențiu Duică, Managing Partner - Industrial & Retail, Global Vision. “We have a partnership with landowners, with whom we will develop 5-6 new locations. The returns we are aiming for and those obtained are much higher and better. When you are a local player, you benefit from certain advantages, but you have to convince customers that you are offering them the best. Our strategy is to develop projects with a superior return. Locations are very important; we have strategic locations – we are already developing the park in Otopeni, near the airport. This year, with the integration of a new top management, investments in the retail sector reached over 40-50 million euros. In the industrial sector, investments have not grown at the same pace, but we already have a business plan in place and partnerships with landowners. The Poles have launched numerous projects where they had industrial park awards. Locations are becoming more and more interesting as the infrastructure improves. We see what is happening in Bucharest and the transformation of a city to be developed and reconverted. Mayors and County Councils are very open to creating production spaces”, he added.
Another topic addressed during the panel was the streamlining of processes through automation. “I am glad that we are talking more and more about automation, about maximum efficiency. The trend is clearly positive, but I would like it to be sustained. Let's scale from the developer level to the market level and offer automation not just of the product. When we talk about the challenges we encounter in projects, if we talk about a production capacity, we benefit from some existing infrastructure. If we talk about a plot of land somewhere, on the outskirts, whether we are talking about logistics or industrial, there are several challenges, the first being the one related to financing. We are also talking about authorizing a new project and, after that, obtaining some utilities – from very complicated solutions to deadlines that do not respect the initial planning. This is a real problem that slows down the development and scaling process. The perfect balance does not exist, but it is necessary for us all to walk on those wheels that give us more momentum and to be able to maintain the trend. I am glad that there are massive investments in the automation area – this is the only way we can align and keep up with the technological era we are in. We have two extremes”, said Cătălin Podgoreanu, Partner & Head of Operations, Brisk Group, in this context.
Increased attention was also paid to sustainability and the ESG reporting area. Thus, Răzvan Nica, Founder, BuildGreen, stated: “If we talk about sustainability and ESG, the other day the European Commission deregulated a large part of what referred to mandatory reporting. This means that 80% of companies in Europe will no longer have to report, and in Romania, out of 6,000 companies that were supposed to start reporting, only 300 will have the CSRD obligation. The basis was voluntary reporting. We started the regulatory part in 2007-2008, and the major market leaders adhered to sustainability certifications, ESG and voluntary reporting. After the energy crisis came, the sustainability area became more palpable through operational costs, and at this moment the evolution continues. If we talk about the logistics area, of the 500,000 sqm delivered last year, we consider that over 95% have implemented sustainability criteria. We have seen, recently, an integration. We are no longer talking only at the project level, but about company-level strategies, decarbonization strategies for 10-15 years. We have clients with whom we are working on aligning decarbonization standards. This sustainability has become, somehow, natural. I think that among the main drivers in this direction are the clients, who are large companies, the company's policy. We are also talking about the banking area, the financing part which, regardless of the fact that at the EU level it has been deregulated, their requirements will affect this financing part, the interest rate.”
PANEL WITH A FOCUS ON THE OFFICE SECTOR
The third panel of the event aimed at the evolution of the office sector, moderated by Lucian Opriș, Director, Tenant Services, Office 360 & Industrial, Colliers Romania. The panel was attended by: Tamara Guleryuz (Skanska), Andreea Cotigă (CPI Property Group | Romania), Andrei Boca (Globalworth), Mihaela Ispas (Filip & Company) and Dan Ungureanu (RENOMIA Gallagher).
"Last year, 338,600 sq m were rented in Bucharest, 18% below the absolute record of 2023. However, it is above the average for the 2019-2023 period, so a good year for transacted areas. The phenomenon of contract renewal is predominant. The largest transactions are Genpact and Vodafone – they were left with space modifications in existing buildings. The prime rent in Bucharest is positioned at 22 euros, and deliveries of new buildings are disastrous. For 2024, only the AFI Loft project was delivered, and for 2025 we expect around 6,000 sq m on the market – the smallest deliveries since 2004, and in 2004 there was no office market. There is a very strong emphasis on contract extensions – new demand used to be 40%", explained Lucian Opriș in the introduction to the panel.
"For us, in 2024 we had constant activity. We assisted clients in terms of relocations, and an increased activity was in signing additional documents. It was a good year, because our clients achieved their targets for last year. A challenging aspect is represented by the urban planning situation in the Capital – the entire market is waiting for the administrative documents with interest, but all our clients benefited from the assistance to overcome the obstacles and achieve their objectives. Negotiating a lease for a larger space is a very complex process. Often, negotiating a lease contract takes longer than negotiating the sale of the land on which the building is built. From the lawyers' perspective, it matters a lot in extending contracts if they have found the willingness to negotiate certain clauses and if the collaboration went well, that matters a lot. There are certain restrictions that need to be accommodated in the contacts”, answered Mihaela Ispas, Counsel, Filip & Company, in this context.
In turn, Andreea Cotigă, Head of Leasing Office, CPI Property Group | Romania, stated: “We ended 2024 with the best results in the last 5-7 years – we managed to secure almost 80,000 sq m. Contract renewals had a significant share, but we did not break away from the market trend. We had an increase in occupancy, which, in December, reached 93%. The driving force behind this result was attracting new demand for vacant spaces, quickly replacing tenants who left our portfolio. The activity of extending leases was as intense as possible, but we still face challenges. The macroeconomic, political context, marked by uncertainty, continues to be the main challenge this year. The market must be prepared to absorb the rent level for new projects. The office market has undergone some major transformations in recent years – it has been hit by the health crisis, the work context, the economy, but I believe that if we look at the ratio between supply and demand, things have become clearer for industry players.”
“We have a 100% renewal rate of contracts with existing tenants in 2024 – no one left our portfolio last year. On the other hand, we look at the occupancy rate as optimistic – 97%, but we must also look at it in perspective, in the context of decreasing available space. Large spaces that attract large new entries are decreasing, and this puts Bucharest in a less than ideal situation. When a product is sought after and there is no supply, prices increase. We also have other factors, such as high inflation in previous years, which has pushed up the average rent level for each building. If we think about the very low number of new buildings, there are several reasons, but eliminating those related to urbanism, those related to costs remain. At current costs, you have to proceed very carefully so that that building is competitive with the other buildings in the area”, continued Andrei Boca, Leasing Director, Globalworth.
Office space developers are constantly looking for solutions that will support tenants, explained Tamara Guleryuz, Leasing & Asset Manager, Skanska. "For our business, 2024 was a good, dynamic year, both from a leasing and asset perspective. We managed to achieve our objectives set at the beginning of 2024, in addition to the new demand accommodated in the Equilibrium 2 building. We are happy to see that this project convinces tenants to stay in the project or move their operations to our project. We also encountered challenges, but, thanks to our experience and maturity, we managed to turn them into opportunities. We are implementing new solutions to support tenants, make their lives easier, help them monitor their carbon footprint more easily, reporting. We have a waste monitoring system called Waste Tracker, through which tenants can monitor in real time the quantities of waste per category and view the related carbon footprint per category. It is a completely new system on the Bucharest market, in an office building. It helps both us, the owners, and the tenants, and the feedback is positive,” she said.
“We doubled our space, we have 100% occupancy. 2024 was a very good year, from many points of view. We have a Center of Excellence, where we come up with personalized solutions - we bring international solutions, we work with over 120 insurers from all over the world and we act a little differently, so that we combine insurance with reinsurance. For the real estate market, I think 80% of the industry is our customers. If we look at the positive perspective of this context, we see the improvement of the conditions given by the large developers: they have tried to take steps towards energy efficiency, towards refurbishing. I see that the large clients have improved what they currently have, and the fact that they have a 100% renewal rate is a positive consequence of these improvements”, said, in turn, Dan Ungureanu, Business Development Leader CEE & CIS, RENOMIA Gallagher.
PANEL WITH A FOCUS ON THE RESIDENTIAL SECTOR
The last panel of the event brought up the residential sector in Romania, moderated by Gabriel Blăniță, Associate Director Valuation and Advisory Services, Colliers Romania. This panel included: Bogdan Bălașa (HILS Development), Beatrice Dumitrașcu (One United Properties), Laurențiu Afrasine (Akcent City), Irina Caraene (Cordia Romania), Veronica Duțu (Unioncont Expert), Luciana Giurea (AFI Europe Romania) and Bogdan Iliescu (Nusco).
“In the last 5 years, if we look at Bucharest, the price of new apartments has increased by over 50%, and in the case of projects in certain areas the increase was even greater than that. Until quite a few years ago, old apartments were sought after because they had a very good location. Now, this advantage has disappeared, as new projects have come to central areas and brought a mix of utilities, making these units the most sought after. The difference between old and new apartments has increased sharply in recent years. Even if the supply of new apartments is decreasing, we see a big difference between new and old ones. The difference in quality between what is being built today and what was built 50 years ago is very large”, explained Gabriel Blăniță at the opening of the panel, inviting the panelists to talk about the projects developed in 2024.
Thus, Irina Caraene, Sales Director, Cordia, stated: “2024 was a year in which we closed Parcului 20. Our expectations are quite good. All of us who participate in the real estate market invest in regeneration projects, we take into account the wishes and needs of our customers, but we are waiting for a change from the authorities to be able to move forward with the projects we have proposed. Expectations are good. Prices, in the last 2 years, have been increasing, and customers' interest in living in gated communities, in projects that will increase their quality of life, has increased. Purchasing power is, in Bucharest, fantastic, as can be seen from the high percentage of customers who use their own sources of financing. It is still a very good market. Apartments increased in value when customers had nurseries, kindergartens, parks near their living space. We ended up selling a two-room apartment for 120,000 + VAT. There are premises, every time, and good projects will be appreciated.”
In turn, Bogdan Iliescu, Commercial Director, Nusco, stated: “We have Nusco City in the Pipera area and Nusco Homes in Tunari under development. Each comes with its own challenges. At Nusco City, it is almost completely sold and we hope to deliver the first blocks in the summer-autumn. We are using the current apartments to sell the third phase. In Tunari, we have entered an area where well-designed projects, with facilities, compare you with everything around you. We started construction a year and a half ago andwe have greatly increased the price of houses in the area. Customers see the added value that an integrated project with infrastructure and facilities brings.”
“This year we will deliver over 2,300 housing units, above the level of the last 10 years. We do not have many housing units for sale. We hope that the market will be unlocked. The fact that the election deadline has been extended did not help us much. Today, only the final beneficiary suffers, because the offer is very, very low. I think it is enough to realize that the offer is decreasing, the demand is constantly increasing in a country where prices for the residential sector are the lowest in Europe. People want to be owners, but they do not have what it takes. We want the city to be unlocked. We announced that we will enter the premium affordable sector – satellite cities where all proximity services together with the need for infrastructure meet, so that they benefit from all daily needs”, explained Beatrice Dumitrașcu, CEO Residential Division, One United Properties.
In Bucharest, the purchasing power index is the most advantageous among the cities in Romania, said Bogdan Bălașa, General Manager, HILS Development. "We also have the role of educating, of making the market, the target audience aware of certain realities. In 2024, for us and for the market, the volume of transactions increased. We recorded a percentage of 30%. Prices also increased by 10-12%, and this is also greatly influenced by the stock of completed apartments that we have for sale. There are a lot of buyers who want something to be ready, to move in as quickly as possible. The number of authorized projects has decreased, but there are all the premises to believe that the evolution of sales volume and prices will be positive in 2025 as well. We continue construction on the first Green Homes certified project, near Ikea Pallady, HILS Sunrise. In the area where we mainly operate, demand has increased by 50%. The supply does not keep up with the demand, which puts pressure on the price. In Bucharest, the purchasing power index is the most advantageous among the cities in Romania,” he continued.
“The year 2024 was very good. We have the Akcent City project under development, with 724 apartments. 2024 was the year of the project’s launch and it was a very good year. It is confirmed that we have a year-on-year increase in the price per square meter. We sold at construction stage. The beginning of 2025 was also very good. Since the beginning of sales until now, we are approaching a percentage of 60% of the units that have been sold. There is an appetite, there is a demand. The lack of construction permits and the administrative blockage is an influencing factor. The average prices per square meter for apartments in old buildings have also increased. A report said that in almost all neighborhoods of Bucharest the average price per apartment is over 100,000 euros. We have an increased demand and an offer that is decreasing from year to year. From the developer's perspective, we are optimistic about 2025. All the studios, all the studios and all the 4-room apartments have been traded”, said Laurențiu Afrasine, CEO, Akcent City.
Luciana Giurea, Head of Residential Division, AFI Europe Romania, brought up the need for people to feel a sense of belonging to a community again. “AFI Home North is AFI’s first Build To Rent project in Romania, but we are building on almost 10 years of experience in Poland, the Czech Republic and Serbia, where we operate over 4,000 units and have several thousand more in development. This spring, we are launching the first building within the complex located on Dimitrie Pompeiu Boulevard, with 80 apartments. A second building will be added to this by the end of the year, with another 160 apartments. The uniqueness of the AFI Home North project is given both by its destination - rental, and by the fact that we will offer facilities for the exclusive use of our clients, such as a gym or co-working space. This will also be the place where we plan to organize meeting events for tenants, because we want to bring back to people's lives a very important element, but which has become almost non-existent in recent years: community. We want to bring back the feeling of home to the places where we live. This is also the reason why we chose to develop a residential complex in the business area of the capital, to help people spend as little time as possible in traffic and convert it into quality moments, spent with their loved ones", she said.
Veronica Duțu, Tax Consultant & Owner, Unioncont Expert, spoke during the panel about the legislative changes impacting the sector. "Last year, Romania went through a very complicated budgetary period. There were many legislative changes, with an impact on all companies in Romania. We also started 2025 badly. Our country has the lowest capital taxation in the EU and, therefore, we are still attractive to foreign investors. Moreover, political instability is reflected in the financial stability of companies and us, as employees. This year, the minimum wage in the economy was also raised, which affected the construction market. We have some of the lowest salaries in the EU in this sector. If salaries increase, investor interest will be increasingly low. For these companies to face all the fiscal challenges, we had to be next to the company's financial director and see what we can optimize from the taxes we pay to the state budget. We can use the extra-salary benefits, which are 14 in number,” she said.
The “Real Estate & Construction Forum” event, now in its 20th edition, was organized by BusinessMark and brought together 200 leaders in the field. A new edition will take place on September 22, 2025, in Bucharest. Details about the event are available here.
The event partners were: CPI Property Group, HILS Development, Nhood, Olympian Parks, Cordia, Storia, EnergyPal, RENOMIA Gallagher, Filip & Company, Build Green, Colliers, Unioncont, BRISK
The event was supported by: BRCC - British Romanian Chamber of Commerce
Technical support provided by: SCS
Monitoring partner: mediaTrust
Media partners: depozitinfo.ro, birouinfo.ro, spotmedia.ro, Finzoom, Financial Market, Ziarul Bursa, Daibau.ro, Logistic Post, SpațiulConstruit.ro, proidea, instalnews.ro, ibuild, Radar Imobiliar, Jurnalul de Afaceri, EventsMax, MATEK, Revista Piața, Transilvania Business, BusinessVoice, PRwave, AngajatorulMeu.ro, Business Press, digital-business.ro, România Durabilă, Club Economic, Economistul
BusinessMark – events designed to make an impression!
Since 2013 we have been organizing business events, mainly "own concept", conceived and planned by us, from idea and concept to implementation. We have an "all-industries" approach and dedicate projects to a wide range of industries and professional fields. We want to leave our "mark" in the professional lives of the participants, to produce a concrete impact. We aim to create contexts for the exchange of experience and the creation of ideas, contexts for development, to be inspired and to find the right partners.
Beyond "own concept" events, we organize events built for our partners, events designed together with them and adapted to their objectives. If you are looking for a professional team to organize B2B events, we are with you, step by step. You can count on our experience in consulting, support in creating and implementing the event concept, in event management from creation, logistics, production to efficient budget optimization.
