Apartment prices further down by 10% compared with last year
The real estate market has plunged again this summer, after
hopes about a market rebound had emerged.After asking prices had
maintained above 90,000 euros on average for a three-room apartment
since May 2009, in August the average price dropped to 87,000
euros, according to the ZF real estate index. Public sector salary
cuts, announced layoffs and the VAT hike have hurt the market this
summer.
The decline against last August amounts to 10% and against January
2010 to 7%. Last autumn, prices did not go down by much, they even
rose slightly in some months against previous months, propped by
the First Home governmental programme.
The Bucharest average is still high as in some areas prices go
beyond 100,000 euros in full crisis.
Bucharest old three-room apartments are selling at almost half the
price asked before the crisis, the ZF index reveals.
Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers US investment bank in
September 2008, average prices for three-room apartments in
Bucharest have dropped from over 140,000 euros to 87,0000 euros at
present.
There are analysts saying there is still room for further declines,
but owners and real estate agencies cannot imagine the market can
dip any further.