Daedalus: Romanians prefer investing in real estate than making lei deposits

One third of those questioned believe that life was worse or much worse in 2008 compared to the year before, while the rest responded that they lived the same or better. More than half of these (55.1 percent) believe that this indicator will be subject to a negative trend in 2009, with the percentage of pessimists up from those questioned in 2007.

Some 63 percent of Romanians indicated that their main source of income in 2008 was their salary from base activity, down year-on-year. According to the quoted study, over 35 percent of those questioned said that their income in 2009 is sufficient only for bare necessities, higher than respondents polled in the same period in 2008, while the number of those who believe that their income is high enough for a decent living, without any extravagance, dropped to 30.8 percent from 35.5 percent year-on-year.

In January 2009, 64.4 percent of Romanians owned a home or an apartment, compared to 65.9 percent in the first month of 2008, while some 46 percent owned a car (compared to 50.6 percent in January 2008), and 28.2 percent own a vacation home (32 percent in 2008).

The number of private insurances rose to about one third among the urban population.  “By examining the types of private insurance, life and property-real estate insurance, and CASCO are more common than in 2008.  On the other hand, 8.7 percent of Romanians in urban areas have home insurance in 2009, up from 6.3 percent in 2008.  Life insurance also rose in 2009, from 5.6 percent in urban areas to 11 percent, according to the study.