Romanians working abroad changing the real estate market

In the first half of the year, more houses were built in urban areas. Figures for the nine-month period indicate that 14,034 houses were build in rural areas, 1.5 percent less than houses built in cities (14,251 units).

More than 28,000 homes were finalized in the first three quarters of 2007, 36 percent higher year-on-year.

According to officials from the Construction Company Employer’s Union (PSC), money sent home by Romanians working abroad constitute one of the main reasons for this shift in the real estate market trend. "We must consider that most Romanians working abroad would rather invest their savings in building new houses," according to PSC's Executive Director, Adriana Iftime. According to the Executive Director of the Concrete Producers Employer’s Union (CIROM), Ion Crangasu, construction in rural areas also involves black market work. "More than 50 percent of individual houses in rural areas are built by small companies, with black market workers," Crangasu said. The main reasons for this evolution is both an rising deficit of land in large cities and lower land prices in rural areas or city outskirts.