Markus Wirth, 61, CEO of Holcim Romania, the Romanian subsidiaryof Swiss group Holcim, believes real estate market prices will notdrop much further and advises his employees to invest in buyinghomes now when they can find apartments in good locations at lowprices. He runs a 250m-euro and 1,200-employee business and saysthe economy will certainly expand because Romania is a market of 22million inhabitants with a major infrastructure and housingdeficit. Housing prices have declined by around 50% in the past twoyears, but Wirth states he is not sure how much prices willcontinue to fall because certain segments have bottomed out. Wirthexpects his company's turnover to further drop by 5% this year. Thecompany last year saw turnover slip by 33%, to 250m euros,exceeding even the most downbeat projections launched at thebeginning of the year, when Wirth expected a 20% decrease at most.Under the circumstances, Wirth does not expect the housing sectorto return to growth, despite the falling prices, but maintainsalvation must come from the state budget in fields such asinfrastructure and tourism.
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