While in Bucharest the housing construction reached a record high last year, in the second biggest center of the real estate development industry in Romania, Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), housing construction fell back by 36%. (via maszol.ro)
Last year in Romania the pulling industry of the economy was the building industry with its 15.9 percent increase, but it was not coming from the dwelling constructions. 67,816 dwellings were finished in 2020, which is only a 1 percent increase compared to 2019.
The construction industry reacted very differently to the coronavirus pandemic in the different regions of the country. In Bucharest for example the increase compared to the year before was 60 percent, meaning that 13,821 new dwellings were handed over, which is an absolute record as in the last 30 years, since the political changes, the number of new homes in the capital never exceeded the ten thousand per year.
According to the Romanian National Statistical Institute (INS) out of the bigger cities in the country, besides Bucharest, only Brassó (Brașov) and Konstanca (Constanța) had more dwelling handovers than in 2019. In Konstanca 1,217 new homes were finished in 2020, which is 15 percent more than it was a year before, while in Brassó the increase was about 10 percent, and 3,098 dwellings were built.
On the other hand, in the country’s second biggest center of the real estate development industry, Kolozsvár, the number of new home handovers decreased dramatically from 4,175 (in 2019) to 2,657 (in 2020), which is a 36 percent decrease, and it also means that Kolozsvár stepped back to the 2016 level.
Out of the Transylvanian County capitals with major Hungarian population, Nagyvárad (Oradea) had also a negative tendency and the decrease here was 30 percent, from 1,761 to 1,237. But in Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureș) and Szatmárnémeti (Satu Mare) despite of the pandemic more new homes were built than in the previous year. In Marosvásárhely the increase was from 475 to 677, while in Szatmárnémeti from 241 to 350.
The housing stock in both Szekler Counties is only broadening slightly. In Kovászna (Covasna) County only 231 new homes were handed over last year, while in Hargita (Harghita) County 281.
It is also worth to mention that in Hargita and Kovászna Counties the number of new home constructions is not only low at the moment, but basically this tendency has not been changed since 2016, while during the same period the number of new dwellings handed over per year in Szatmárnémeti and Nagyvárad increased by 150 percent and in Marosvásárhely by 500 percent.
Title image: Dwelling development in Nagyvárad fell back with 30 percent last year. (Photo: Zoltán Pengő/maszol.ro)
