Big counties support the real estate market, despite the decrease in the capital, according to ANCPI and INS data

Real estate market in previous 3 months of the year

For a more relevant comparison of the real estate market, the ANCPI data shows that in the latest three months for which there is information, ie February – April 2025, almost 41,000 transactions took place at national level, and in this case the decrease is 6.5% compared to February – April 2024.

In addition, in this case, the three top counties mentioned above registered increases on the line, from almost 24% for Constanța (over 2,800 transactions) to almost 1% for Timiș (2,700 transactions), with an increase of over 12% reported for Cluj (almost 2,800 transactions).

In contrast, in this case it is observed that Bucharest reported a higher decrease compared to the national average, as 12,000 transactions took place here, with about 10% less than in the same period last year.

Real estate market in the first 4 months of the year

At the level of the first four months of the year, ANCPI reported over 49,000 transactions, which corresponds to a decrease by 8.5% compared to the first four months of last year. And in this case, one of the main explanations for this decrease is the evolution in the Capital, where almost 15,000 transactions took place, with almost 12% below the last year.

“As until now, the” star “county of the real estate market this year is Constanța, where over 3,400 transactions took place, increasing by 23%compared to January-April 2024. Also on the growth is Cluj County, which reported over 3,200 transactions (+8%), during 8.5%, while at 8.5%. Of the top counties from a real estate perspective, the biggest decrease was registered in Iași, where 1,900 buildings were traded, half compared to the same period last year. However, this decrease comes against the background of spectacular increases reported in the first part of last year ”, said Monica Dudău, Head of Marketing Real Estate Europe OLX Group.

First monthly decrease in 2025 for active mortgages

April became the first calendar month of this year in which the number of active mortgages is decreasing compared to the similar month last year. Specifically, ANCPI reported 7,400 active mortgages in April 2025, with 5% less compared to April 2024.

However, the data show that this decrease comes in particular due to a 20% decrease in the active mortgages in Bucharest, to just over 2,000. In contrast, the data show percentage increases from two digits in Ilfov (+45%), Timiș (+16%) and Cluj (+12%), while a higher decrease than in the Capital was registered only in Constanta (-25%).

If we take into account the previous three months, then the number of active mortgages is increasing by 6%, to over 24,000, compared to the period February-April 2024. In addition, with notable exceptions in Constanța (-28%) and Iași (-49%), all other top markets are increasing to this indicator, including the capital (+3%). Thus, in Ilfov there are 50% more active mortgages, and in Timiș and Cluj the increases are 14% and 30% respectively.

In addition, at the level of the first four months of the year, the nearly 30,000 active mortgages symbolize an increase of 7.5% compared to the period January-April 2024. In this first part of the year, the number of active mortgages in Bucharest was almost 9,200, up 4%, while four top counties reported. These are Ilfov (+46%), Cluj (+27%) and Timiș (+23%), each with over 2,000 active mortgages.

As usual, it is important to note that the number of active mortgages reported by ANCPI each month also includes refinancing mortgage loans. ANCPI does not offer a separate statistic for the latter, but at present many people choose to refinance their mortgage loans to benefit from a 3-5 year period of fixed interest.

The National Bank of Romania (BNR) also maintained the monetary policy interest at 6.5%, a level that has not been modified from the August 2024 meeting. The specialists anticipate that this value will be maintained during the planned meeting in May.

In contrast, the ROBOR index at 3 months, used for mortgage loans granted before May 1, 2019, crosses a volatile period, with significant increases as a result of the results of the first round of the presidential elections. Thus, after stagnating at 5.9% during April and in the first days of May, the ROBOR 3M index reached 7.29% on May 15, which represents an increase of approximately 1.4 percentage points in less than two weeks.

The IRCC index, used for mortgage loans granted after May 1, 2019, has between April 1 and June 30, 5.55%, slightly decreased from the previous value of 5.66%. However, based on the calculation methodology, it is expected that the IRCC index that will be valid between October 1 and December 31 will be higher, against the background of the current increases registered by the ROBOR index at 3 months.

Building permits in March 2025

Meanwhile, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) has recently published data on building permits issued by local public authorities during March.

Thus, in the third month of the year, almost 3,100 building permits were issued at national level, increasing by almost 2% compared to March 2024. As in February, the national increase is generated by an increase in the authorizations granted in the urban environment: almost 950, with 7% above the level of March 2024.

The authorized area also increased by 1.5%, to 712,000 square meters useful, but this time the growth comes from the rural area (376,000 square meters, +15%). In contrast, in the urban area, homes with a total area of ​​336,000 square meters were authorized, down 10%.

With one exception, all indicators are increasing at the level of the first three months of the year. For example, the national number of authorizations increased by almost 3% to over 7,600, with an increase by 6% in the urban area (2,350 authorizations) and by 1% in the rural area (5,300 authorizations).

On the other hand, the authorized area registered a 6% decrease in the urban environment, to almost 862,000 square meters, but at national level there is an increase of over 1% to 1.78 million square meters due to the growth in the rural area (+10%, to 921,000 square meters).

At the level of the first three months of the year, the building permits correspond to a number of almost 16,200 authorized homes, over 8% more than in the same period last year.

Of these, over 1,000 homes were authorized in Bucharest (-14%), while in Ilfov over 2,000 homes, up 33%. Other counties with over 1,000 authorized homes are Iasi (1,700 homes, +20%) and Constanța (1,450, -9%), while Timiș is very close to this threshold with 995 authorized homes (-30%).

According to the data reported by the National Bank of Romania (BNR), the euro, used as a landmark in almost any real estate transaction, had in April 2025 an average value of 4.9773 lei, practically in stagnation compared to the average value of 4.9768 of March 2025 and increasing by 0.09% compared to the value of 4.9730 lei from April 2024.

However, the lion devalued suddenly in front of the euro starting May 6, following the first tour of the presidential elections, and on May 16 it was listed by the BNR at 5.10, which represents a depreciation of 2.5% compared to the average value of April.