CBRE: Only half of the 1,500 homes planned for Q4 will be delivered

“The year 2008 was supposed to register the largest number of residential project launches and lead to the start for true competition,” Nicolescu added. He indicated that real estate developers are due to finalize some 7,000 housing units in 2009, as part of already announced projects.

Last year, 3.4 housing units per 1,000 inhabitants were finalized in Bucharest, while at the national level, that level stood at 2.1 units per 1,000 inhabitants.

The solution proposed by Nicolaescu is for developers to sell housing units which have not been finalized or have smaller surfaces, even at the risk of lowering comfort standards. Thus, projects destined for middle and high classes could be reorganized and sold to a different buyer target.

“Developers must consider the economic situation, the difficult access to financing, the high price for which land was acquired, and the powerful competition on the market. They have to settle for 20-25 percent profit margins, instead of 80-100 percent, as they were used to,” said Ioana Momiceanu, Managing Director of the Atisreal consultancy company.