Romanians' credit property purchases up 40 pct in H1 2024 

The share of Romania's credit property purchases increased 40 percent in H1 2024 from the same period in 2023, shows a survey by real estate agency Re/Max Romania released on Tuesday.Among the factors that determined the increase in lending for home purchases were the reduction of bank interest rates and bank dedicated offers."The specific of H1 2024 was a more active approach by real estate buyers, reflected in a 5 percent increase in the volume of sales, and an increase by about 8 percent in the value of properties compared to the same period of the previous year. The positive evolution in this segment is mainly due to the reduction of mortgage loan interests and the increase in property selling prices. The banks' offers for this product also determined a 40 percent increase in the percentage of properties purchased through credit compared to the first half of the previous year," the cited source said.On the other hand, rental transactions went down compared to the year-ago period.The statistics of the real estate consultant shows that most of the deals arranged by Re/Max Romania agents were in the residential segment - approximately 90 percent of the total transactions, and only 10 percent were in the commercial and industrial area.The most sought-after housing types were two-room apartments, followed by houses and apartments with three or more rooms. Also, old apartments stood out among the Romanians' preferences, to the detriment of new ones, as well as properties located on city outskirts.In terms of value, one of the top deals brokered in the first six months of the year by Re/Max Romania consultants is an industrial property in Brasov, which sold for EUR 2.1 million, as well as two residential plots located in Bucharest and in Brasov, which sold for over EUR 2 million, and EUR 1.5 million, respectively.In Romania, Re/Max runs the largest network of franchised real estate offices, having about 60 franchises and over 700 members.