Colliers: Bucharest apartment prices sank 2% in January

“The 2% decline is not major, but rather an inertia of a month that historically seems to lag in a resting point. BREI entered the year 2009 being influenced by the last year’s sentiment and uncertainty that reigns over the entire economy”, reads Colliers analysis.

At the level of its components, Old-BREI, the index that monitors the price variation of old apartments dropped 3%.

“The interesting thing is that for the first time since July 2008, we are witnessing a substantial growth of the sector 1, that climbed 7%, as opposed to 2%-6% decline of the other sectors”, Colliers stated.

The growth may be credited to the presence of a constant rental market in the premium apartments in the north, as well as to “safe long-term investment” approach for apartments in central Bucharest.

The value afferent to sector 6 remains the lowest, steadying at 1,111 euro/sqm , and the highest value was registered for sector 1, at 1,990 euro/sqm.

New-BREI remained relatively constant from last year. The quarterly auditing of the projects that will be monitored by the index was modified due to the delay of projects or sale procedure completion.

BREI index was set up by a team of 20 advisors and analysts at Colliers International, headed by Calin Bucur, 4,000 offers being completed since January 1, 2005. As all the major stock exchange indices, BREI compiles eight secondary indexes that monitor the price variations on Bucharest’s residential market for old apartments built before 1990 and for new apartments.

Colliers International is a global partnership between companies, with 293 offices in 61 countries. In Central and Eastern Europe, the company provides services in Romania, Poland, Czech, Slovakia, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro.