The number of new housing units completed in Romania dropped by 13.0% y/y to 14,567 in Q2, according to the statistics office INS.

The decline was steeper when it comes to the housing units financed from private funds (-15.2% y/y to 14,024 units) as 2.5 more housing units (552) were completed with public financing.

The decline, albeit sharp, marks a slight improvement from the 25.9% y/y contraction seen in Q1 (when only 11,360 new housing units were delivered).

The lower number of units delivered in the first two quarters of the year is broadly consistent with the activity reported in the residential segment of the construction market, which contracted by 33.6% y/y in Q1 and 12.5% y/y in Q2.

In Bucharest, which concentrates a large part of the residential construction activity (29% of the housing units completed last year), the contraction was slightly above the average in both Q2 (-14.2% y/y) and Q1 (-32.4% y/y). But other regions posted steeper declines: 27.4% fewer units were delivered in the southeastern region in Q2, and 20.1% fewer units were delivered in the south-Muntenia region in the same period.

Last year, 2.6% y/y fewer units were completed, reversing the 2.7% y/y advance in 2022.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Tero Vesalainen/Dreamstime.com)