Investment Market

The year was dominated to a significant extent by retail and office deals, but despite the somewhat shallow result, there are positive developments worth underscoring. For instance, a big part of the office transactions came from new players, a continuation of the trend seen in recent years, which should help improve the liquidity over the long run. Secondly, we saw some 30% of the year’s turnover generated by local capital, quite an increase over the pre-pandemic levels (the average between 2015 and 2019 stood at less than 10% per year); ultimately, local capital should act as a more stable anchor for the local scene and also acts as a sign of a maturing local economy.

We also want to emphasize that after the Austrian capital in 2000s and 2010s and South African capital in 2010s, Romanians are now the number one source of money buying real estate properties on the local market. Over the last 10 years, Romanian investors bought nearly €1.8 billion in commercial real estate or around 20% of the total, easily surpassing South African investors, which generated €1.3 billion in purchases.

Transactions

The retail sector was the year’s runaway success, a fair few notable tickets closing. The sale of a 32,000 sqm retail portfolio by South African fund MAS REI to British fund M Core was the year’s biggest transaction, with an estimated size broadly around €57 million. With two other malls in Focsani and Suceava purchased from other owners, M Core was the year’s biggest investor by far, generating some 29% of the total turnover. Together with other smaller transactions, this was enough to make retail the dominant sector in terms of deals, accounting for some 38% of the total.

The office sector followed at some distance, accounting for some 31% of the market turnover in 2025. While the volume itself is not noteworthy, the fact that the two biggest trades were closed by investors closing their first deal involving a Romanian asset. Altogether, the new investors accounted for well over half of activity on the office side. The year’s biggest deal saw Hungarian fund Granit Asset Management purchase the first phase of the Skanska-developed Equilibrium office project in Bucharest for some €52 million; this was also one of the more sizeable office tickets we have seen in the last couple of years. Victoria Center in the Capital’s CBD was snapped up by Solida Capital, a Middle Eastern player with exposure in other European markets (including Poland in the CEE). We view this development as quite positive as it shows the market is deepening beyond the “traditional” market participants, which should improve liquidity over the long run, but also widen the breadth of the pricing dynamics.

Another major transaction is that of Hilton Garden Inn Bucharest Airport, the second biggest hotel transaction we have ever seen on the local market, estimated at around €40 million. It is not just the size itself that is meaningful, but also the fact that this is a newly developed hotel built from the ground up (not a refurbishment) and a true investment product which could have appealed to a wide range of investors, including institutional ones. Romania more or less lacks a segment of “institutional”-grade hotel transactions, so this could mark the birth of a new market.

Prices and funding conditions

Yields have been more or less stable through 2025. We see prime retail shopping centers at 7.25%, prime offices at 7.50% and prime industrial assets at 7.75%. We also want to point out that recent trades involving high-performing and recently opened retail parks in regional cities have been closing at around 8%, sometimes falling below this level.

Meanwhile, banks are fairly comfortable with current levels of pricing; that said, banks still display a preference and would rather fund a well-performing product and maybe one geared at certain sectors, like industrial or retail. We see sentiment turning around for prime offices, which had fallen a bit out of favour amid the whole remote work story. It is worth noting that 2025 also saw the closure of the biggest refinancing ever on the local market, with a group of banks offering AFI Europe well over €0.5 billion in funding guaranteed by AFI Cotroceni in Bucharest (one of Romania’s premier shopping centers) as well as AFI Ploiesti and AFI Brasov. The loan margin that a good product can expect is in the 200 to 250 basis points range, a bit narrower than a few years ago.

Outlook

Assuming that P3 is seeking a new buyer for its 380,000 sqm warehouse just west of Bucharest and given the sizeable office and retail trades that could close in 2026 given transactions currently in various stages, it is safe to say that the new year is starting with one of the most solid pipelines we have seen in many years. Actually closing these deals is a different matter and even the best laid plans often go awry (and 2025 is an illustration of this). We are cautiously optimistic that 2026 may very well see an improvement over last year’s level and may very well see market volumes top €800 million, potentially reaching €1 billion if all planets align. This assumes that the domestic political backdrop and external geopolitical scene don’t heat up too much (and given the news at the start of 2026, this may be a tall order).