Record €3.5 mln for a former embassy building

In early June, the Malaysian embassy received between €3.5-4 mln for its former seat, after almost four months of negotiations. The house has 900 square meters of land with 600 sqm constructed surface. Bogdan Tohăneanu, representative of the law office that brokered the deal, confirmed the value of the transaction for Business Standard, and added that this “is, probably, the highest amount paid by an individual for a home.”

The value of the transaction is very high, considering that the residential market has been virtually blocked since the beginning of this year. The new owner is Ariadna Avram, founder of Top Diagnostics Romania, a company that distributes diagnostic equipment for laboratories, partially acquired by the Swiss Roche pharmaceutical holding at the end of 2008.

The building was put up for sale last year for €7.5 million, but when Avram showed interest in acquiring the house in February, the negotiation price dropped to €5 mln.

The financial crisis has affected the real estate segment, but specialists in the field said that only now homes are being valued at realistic prices, compared to those registered in 2008 and 2007.

“The crisis led to a 30-40 percent decline in prices for certain products, but I do not believe that this reduction will sharpen in the near future. Tariffs are now at a market value that will lead to stabilization,” Mihaela Pană, Head of the Residential Department of the DTZ Echinox real estate consultancy com­pany, told Business Standard.