Why the Romanians keep the price of the housing with the teeth: “swells the prices behind the ear, at the apartments that stay empty with months”
The price of housing in Romania has increased continuously in recent years, and the owners who put them for sale do not rush to negotiate for the offers received. For many Romanians, the increasing cost of real estate has become a paradox.
Many Romanians demand the higher prices of homes. Photo: freepik.com
In Romania, over 9.7 million homes are built, the recent reports of the National Institute of Statistics show. But at least one million of them remained unoccupied, according to statistics.
Housing prices, increasing
Most, over 200,000 – according to some estimates, are in the Capital, but thousands of apartments, studios and uninhabited houses can be found in all major cities.
In most of the small cities and the communes in Romania, the depopulation is more visible, the demographic decline being more pronounced in relation to the number of inhabitants, and the old working blocks and the old houses, deserts for many years, stand out faster in the provincial landscape.
The latest reports published by the European Commission, through the Eurostat statistics site, shows that the price of housing in Romania has been constantly increasing in the last 15 years. Between 2010 and 2024, they increased by 55.4 percent, while the rents in Romania increased 26.7 percent.
The report of the Statistics Office of the European Union highlights a tendency to increase the prices of housing in Romania, but compared to states such as Estonia and Hungary, where the prices of real estate have tripled, their evolution is slower in our country.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, housing prices increased by 4 percent in Romania, the same Eurostat report shows.
Too high prices for many Romanians
The acquisition of a home is among the decisions to which Romanians pay high attention, and their growing price has often become a reason for dissatisfaction.
Many Romanians complained on the social networks of the paradox on the real estate market, where the costs increased from year to year, even though most of the cities and communes in Romania have a declining population and a stagnant construction market. A local dissatisfied with the evolution of the real estate market in his city where the buyers do not rush to pay the prices required by the owners, challenged the Romanians to relate as this paradox.
“Why don't I lower prices if no one buy? In my city, and not just here, the prices have grown aberrant and unjustified. Like any buyer of good faith, I refuse to be fooled. I see daily how the owners and agencies swell the prices after the ear and keep the apartments with the months.asks the Reddit user.
Romanians' explanations for increasing real estate prices
Many Romanians have tried to explain the situation of the “real estate bub” claimed by the author of the post, showing why it is convenient for the owners of the housing for sale to maintain the high prices.
“If the apartment is rented, there is no haste for the owner. The real estate market has a long -term upward trend. If it has no debts or other emergencies, it has no reason to decrease from the price,” Believe a Romanian.
Others look more dissatisfied with real estate offers, accusing sellers of holding too much at the price.
“In their minds, if they can sell more expensive later, why sell cheaper now? I don't lose anything. If it was about someone who wants to leave the country or take a bigger home for the family, it would negotiate. But wait,” wait, “ He writes a Romanian on Reddit.
The prices are artificially raised, another Romanian believes.
“Nothing justifies the fact that the apartment I bought nine years ago with 42,500 euros are now worth, theoretically, 80,000 euros. And others require 120,000 euros on two unreasonable rooms, as a new house on the outskirts.” add it.
“I have a net salary of 2,000 euros, but I refuse to buy a room at a house price. It is not that I have no money, but that I do not want to throw them”, Complete another Internet.
Some Romanians accuse the fact that housing owners have unrealistic expectations from customers.
“They all heard about Nea Gigi who sold 115,000 euros a non -renovated apartment with cracked walls and now everyone is waiting for the money down.”says a Romanian.
Other Romanians have several homes, bought as investments, which they keep empty or rent, in black, waiting to take advantage of the price increase, another commentator shows.
“They have many apartments or studios, they bought them exactly for this: investments. They rent or keep them for children, or I plan to sell them when the market grows. And this bubble does not break. I know someone in Drobeta Turnu Severin, who works in Italy as a mason and buys apartments in the city. unused. add it.
“Some prefer to keep them unsold, than to give them cheaper than they dreamed.”says another Romanian.
The real estate market is heading to the absurd, comments on a Romanian AT.
“The sites are full of apartments listed with absurd prices. The one asking for 110,000 euros on an unreasonable apartment is based on the previous one that was given with 95,000, but that was completely renovated”, Says another Romanian.
Some Romanians believe that taxes are convenient
Some Romanians believe that the convenient taxes on housing cause the owners not to rush to lower their sale price.
“It is cheap to keep them for sale. The tax is derisory. If you should pay 2-3,000 euros annually, you would see how prices would fall overnight,” believes one of them.
Another Romanian tells that he owns a 3,000 square meter land that he has put up for sale for two years.
“I asked for 30,000 euros, but no one wants to give more than 15,000 euros. And you know why I do not sell it? Because the tax is 75 lei per year. Even if I keep it 30 years and I sell it after, they still come out”, Write this.
If the state would increase taxes on land and uninhabited buildings, things would move, another Romanian believes.
“It is ridiculous to have a tax of 30 euros per year at an apartment listed with 200,000 euros”, add it.
Other Romanians claim that they agree with progressive taxes according to the number of properties.
“Do you have a home? Ok. Do you have four, all empty? You pay seriously”, Write one of them.
The market for real estate profitable for owners
No owner decreases from the price, as long as there is demand, explains another Romanian.
“As long as banks offer loans, homes will be sold. And if there is a demand, developers are not naive to make discounts. What I notice more and more is that, instead of lowering the price, some choose to furnish the kitchen or arrange the yard, a bonus to attract buyers,” he says.
In Romania, the increase of real estate prices is encouraged by the offer of those who consider the housing of stable investments. Romanians who work abroad are the main customers of housing sold at higher prices, another Internet use believe.
“In vain do you complain. Others pull out, come with the advance and buy. You sit and look on the phone how the prices increase,” Write this.
The pressure on the real estate market is higher on buyers, another Romanian believes.
“A clear reason why they do not fall is the fact that they are sold. Maybe not at the desired speed, but they are sold. And they are not perishable – they have no expiration time. The pressure is rather on the buyer, who fears that in five months he will pay more”, he says.
The world does not understand that the real estate market is not a liquid market, adds another Internet.
“There are thousands and tens of thousands of homes put up for sale in each big city in the world. Some are sold in a few weeks, others in months or even years. In the minds of some, the apartments should be sold like vegetables: quickly, with the flexible price. But not even at the market, at the end of the day, it is not for the end, he concludes.
