BUILDING SITES: Romania is again in the attention of major investors

The volume of real estate transactions recorded in the first three months of this year stood at 337 million EUR, a higher level than the one recorded in 2013, according to the data of JLL consulting company included in the Bucharest City Report. The increasing of the number of transactions confirms the resumption of the real estate market and the increasing in demand for new constructions, especially for commercial and office segments. The largest transaction was the acquisition by Globalworth of the BOB and BOC office buildings as well as 446 apartments and 25 commercial spaces in the Upground Towers residential project. The properties were purchased from the RREEF portfolio, their value being of 210 million EUR. Globalworth also bought the Tower Center International office building (also in Bucharest) for 58 million EUR. Approximately 80% of the transactions focused on office space in the first quarter. According to the JLL analysis, the industrial market begins to attract more and more the interest of investors, whilst the acquisition of the Innovation Logistic Park, with an area of 17,000 square meters by the Secure Property Development & Investment, represents the first major transaction since early 2011. "The start of 2014 revealed furthermore that Romania is again in the attention of the important investors. The activity recorded was dominated by transactions derived from restructuring, but, given the high number of quality buildings available on the market, we expect the volumes to grow strongly this year. The requests can be met in the next period by the increased appetite of banks to provide financing. Due to the strong economic growth and the growing interest of investors in the Romanian real estate market Romania and the benefits it provides (better yields), we have reasons to believe that 2014 will be the first important year for the real estate market after the recession", it is shown in the JLL report.