Country Article / Postcards

Europe With a Twist and In a Frenzy

Date: 03/01/2003

Dear International Living Reader,

The market here in Bucharest is in a frenzy. Owners are suffering from EU fever. They are either taking properties off the market to wait to sell after Romania's proposed accession in 2007...or they are raising their prices.

I've looked at nearly 40 apartments and houses in this city on behalf of International Living. I have a shortlist of three or four to revisit. One front-runner has 3,200 square feet of living space plus attic, basement, separate two-storey garage, and a small yard in a fabulous city-center former townhouse, on offer for around $270,000. We were waiting to see this one again with a view to starting the negotiations in earnest, when a "family discussion" caused the sale to stall. We're awaiting a break in the impasse, but they may decide to wait...or come back with a new asking price.

Another property we were due to see for a second time was a three-storey house plus attic, basement, and garden with nearly 6,000 square feet of living space, in need of total renovation, on offer at a little over $300,000. This property was taken off the market because of a problem with the title, but is sure to reappear at a different price. A renovated property of equal proportions in a similarly prime location (albeit with a restaurant on the ground floor) is currently on the market through CB Richard Ellis for around $1.2 million!

Bucharest has seen residential property prices double in nine months, and this trend looks set to continue. I recently heard of a young couple trying to finance their first purchase of a 650-square-foot apartment well out of the center of the city, the price of which has gone up from $25,000 to $35,000 in a month. It's a slippery market right now, with market reviews from leading international realtors such as Colliers and CB Richard Ellis overtaken as soon as they go to print.

This is Europe with a twist of lemon, where conflicting influences of prevalent Latin, Slavic, and a touch of Hungarian make for a fascinating people. I have to confess, even having been involved in the real estate frenzies of the UK in the 80's and Russia in the mid 90's, the speed of this market leaves me a bit breathless.

We signed some time ago for the first IL apartment in central Bucharest, and estimates are now being collected for its renovation. These are working out at about $25 per square foot. The apartment needs a lot of work but will essentially provide about 1,000 square feet of living space with two bedrooms overlooking university buildings in a quiet street about 100 yards from the centre of the city. It will form a charming base from which to savour the delights of this city whether drinking a sundowner on the balcony before a night at the Opera, or simply drinking in the different sounds and smells of this quintessentially European city.

In the meantime, we are running fast to keep up with this market and secure our second purchase. We're going to have to jump as soon as we find the right thing, before it slips away.

Jocelyn Carnegie
For International Living