Wirth, Holcim: I told employees that now's the time to invest in homes

Markus Wirth, 61, CEO of Holcim Romania, the Romanian subsidiary of Swiss group Holcim, believes real estate market prices will not drop much further and advises his employees to invest in buying homes now when they can find apartments in good locations at low prices. He runs a 250m-euro and 1,200-employee business and says the economy will certainly expand because Romania is a market of 22 million inhabitants with a major infrastructure and housing deficit. Housing prices have declined by around 50% in the past two years, but Wirth states he is not sure how much prices will continue to fall because certain segments have bottomed out. Wirth expects his company's turnover to further drop by 5% this year. The company last year saw turnover slip by 33%, to 250m euros, exceeding even the most downbeat projections launched at the beginning of the year, when Wirth expected a 20% decrease at most. Under the circumstances, Wirth does not expect the housing sector to return to growth, despite the falling prices, but maintain salvation must come from the state budget in fields such as infrastructure and tourism.