Laurentiu Afrăsine, CEO of Akcent Development and developer of Akcent City, spoke to Ziarul Financiar Live about the real estate market in 2024. In his opinion, the real estate market will recover this year, as inflation and interest rates go back.

From his point of view, the beginning of the year seems to be a good one and although people are still upset by the VAT changes, its increase, there is an interest from the public, who are interested in viewing. This is if we refer to the newest project under development – Akcent City.

“Although a challenge is accessing mortgage loans, unlike 2023, where we saw a decrease in the number of loans granted, 2024 comes with good signs in the sense that our studies have shown us that there are more banking units that have understood conversions and changes come with five-year fixed interest deals, which can make them more attractive to buyers.

We will really have to see what happens with this 4% difference, the VAT increase. There are two scenarios: it will be absorbed by the buyer, that is, the developers will price it, or it will be absorbed by the developer. We made the decision to absorb it ourselves.

The fact that Bucharest, the European capital, still has the lowest prices per square meter is something that should give us something to think about.

If we look at the economic forecasts made by the European Commission, Romania is still in a somewhat stable zone and a slight economic growth is even expected.”

The developer also talked about Akcent City, being the largest project built in a single phase in Bucharest, sector 1, Bucurestii Noi being an area in which he believes a lot, connected to the entire public transport network and an area with many facilities. A development of 100,000 sqm in two years.

You can see more information about the real estate market in 2024 and Akcent City in the video.