According to Serbian Economist, the housing market in neighboring Romania continues to see price growth at the start of 2026, although the pace now appears more moderate than during the post-pandemic surge. According to Eurostat, the annual growth in housing prices in Romania at the end of 2025 was about 6.7%, which was higher than the EU average.
Bucharest remains the main market hub, but high prices persist in the largest regional cities as well. According to Romania Insider, in February 2026, two districts in the capital had already surpassed Cluj-Napoca in terms of price per square meter, while Cluj itself remained at approximately €3,300 per square meter. For Bucharest, research and market surveys indicate a city benchmark of €2,236 per square meter in February 2026.
In terms of transactions, the start of 2026 was uneven. In January, 24,598 real estate transactions were registered nationwide, which was below the level of January 2025, and apartment transactions fell by 25% nationwide and by 22% in Bucharest, according to Storia’s analysis based on ANCPI data. By February, the market had already picked up noticeably: the number of transactions rose to 44,427, and Bucharest once again became the country’s largest housing market.
The key trend at the start of 2026 is that the market remains active, but buyers have become more cautious. In its 2026 review, CBRE notes that Romanian buyers dominated the transaction mix at the end of 2025 and accounted for about 31% of the total investment volume for the year, while broader market reviews describe demand as “cautiously positive”: buyers remain active but are taking longer to make decisions and are focused on properly valued properties in good locations.
From a pricing perspective, the market can no longer be called cheap, even by regional standards. Colliers noted at the end of 2025 that prices in Romania’s largest cities had risen by 60–90% over six years, and in Cluj by approximately 100%, while in Bucharest the number of building permits had fallen by 45% over three years, further limiting supply.
Another important consideration for buyers and investors is that the Romanian market is becoming more demanding regarding transaction structures and financing. According to Legal 500, the sector is entering a more “disciplined” phase in 2026, where decisions are more strongly influenced by borrowing costs, the regulatory environment, and the quality of documentation. The OECD also expects only a moderate acceleration in economic growth for Romania in 2026 following a weak 2025, which means the housing market will increasingly depend on household incomes and mortgage availability, rather than just on the momentum of growth.
As for foreigners, no recent official statistics specifically regarding homebuyers by nationality at the beginning of 2026 could be found in open sources. Therefore, it is more accurate to distinguish between the market presence of foreigners and the market of foreign buyers. According to OECD data, in 2024, 52,000 new immigrants in Romania received residence permits valid for more than 12 months, and the largest groups of immigrants in the country in 2024–2025 were linked to Ukraine, Italy, Spain, Moldova, and Turkey. This is not the same as homebuyers, but it shows which foreign groups are currently most prominent in the country and potentially drive part of the demand for renting and buying real estate.
There has also been a noticeable increase in labor migration from Asia. The OECD notes that among new arrivals in 2023–2025, the largest groups were citizens of Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Turkey, while the Romanian labor market has also been actively attracting workers from India and Bangladesh in recent years. For the housing market, this is particularly important in the rental, dormitory, and affordable housing segments in major cities, rather than in the premium segment of apartment purchases.
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