• Market analysis for apartments rentals in Cluj Napoca in 2007

Market analysis for apartments rentals in Cluj Napoca in 2007

Will the price of rent apartments for personal accomodation grow? It is a question that many people think about.
The market analysis for apartments in Cluj Napoca The last significant increase in Cluj-Napoca was between-October – November 2006, approximately 6%, the main factor being the insufficiency of acccomodation places in the student hostels.
There are now two sides of opinions. Some analysts say that the price of rents will decrease with 10 to 20% during one year due to the decision taken by the Central Bank to eliminate the obligativity of 25% advance in case of credits given for the acquisition of dwellings. In this case, most of the people will resort to a credit, preferring to pay the monthly money to a bank rather than as a rent, making thus a profitable investment. Also the appearance on the Romanian market of some external banks, specialized in mortgage credits will attract a greater number of potential clients. This will implicitly lead to the decrease of prices for rent apartments, due to the rich offer of accomodation correlated to the diminishing number of potential lodgers.
On the other side, there are some analysts strongly implying that rents will not lower, but on the contrary, in September and October we will witness another increase of rent apartments, as in any other year after all. Why so? For the mere reason that a new wave of students is about to arrive in Cluj-Napoca and universities will not hold enough places for accomodation. The owners will not lower the prices, being aware of the fact that they will have clients at least at current prices. However, analysts expect for the beginning of the fall an increase with at least 10% reaching a maximum of 15%.
In this moment rents are situated at a high level compared to the rest of the country, with the exception of Bucharest.

According to the analysts, there will be a constant raise of the price of rents for the apartments situated in the centre of the city, regardless of the degree of finishing, whereas the rents in periphery or new districts will not change, starting to grow sensibly towards the end of the summer.
Comparing the prices for rents on the local market with prices from foreign countries we have noticed something rather strange. For instance, in the capital of Sweden or of Austria, prices are much smaller. Sometimes even 3 times smaller, related to the level of average wages. In Wien, an apartment in the centre can be taken for rent at 500 Euro, a sum which might seem ridiculous for an apartment in the centre of Bucharest or Cluj.

The lease of commercial spaces or offices holds an important place within this segment. The rent price for commercial spaces has practically exploded starting from the last year (2006). Today such a location, with a small shop window towards the street in the centre of Cluj reaches 100 Euro on square metre. In the other districts the price ranges between 10 and 30 Euro on square metre, according to location and finishing. The difference is huge between the price asked by owners in the centre of Cluj and that within the districts. But if we refer to the lease of offices, things change. If in the centre the price on square metre is of approximately 12 Euro, within the districts the price starts from 8 Euro/sm.

In these cases we might say that we “compete” equally with Europe, the only thing that makes the difference being the average salary, which is much inferior in our country. We cannot speak however about a sudden raise of the prices. They have grown gradually, reaching a high level nowadays, most of the spaces being taken by banks or shops which are part of nets well-known in Romania or abroad. These companies also hold the “blame” for these prices, as they could offer a price over the level of the market only to be able to be present anywhere in Cluj.
Analysts expect a normal raise of prices, according to the inflation and the level of average salary.
The conclusion is not so promising, but inevitable: rent prices grow day by day and nobody can stop this.