Businessman Liviu Tudor, the biggest office space owner in Romania, as well as one of the lowest-profile investors on the market, came in front of the press in Brussels at the launch of the Association of Building Owners in Romania (RABO), with the association also attracting other major investors such as Ion Ţiriac (Ţiriac Imobiliare), Iulian Dascălu (Iulius Mall) and Austria's Europolis among its members.

Tudor, who through Genesis Development owns business parks West Gate (Militari) and Novo Park (Pipera), being the second-largest office space owner in Romania after Austria's Immofinanz, says real estate has still to emerge from the crisis because an essential component of the development chain is lacking, more specifically transactions, which would see real estate investors resume the development process.

"For two years we have not had a real estate market. No new buildings and no transactions. Not only here, but all over the world. Lately some construction work has started, on the Raiffeisen tower (near Aurel Vlaicu underground station) and on buildings on Dimitrie Pompei Boulevard. The crisis is still here because a market component is missing: there are no portfolio transactions," said Tudor.

The beginning of the year was relatively good for the office rental market, with contracts sealed for spaces covering around 20,000 square metres. But the transaction involving the sale of Floreasca Business Park, signed at the end of last year, was not matched by other sales of projects of similar value, so NEPI's 100 million-euro acquisition can be considered an exception.

Source: Ziarul Finanaciar