The volume of loans granted by local banks for construction is 5.2 billion euros, down 9% against September 2009. So far only ten problematic projects have surfaced, but consultants say big projects are still "kept under wraps", in the hope that the current crisis will not go on endlessly.
The "ruins" of the once booming real estate market are visible all across Bucharest. For instance, in the Mihai Eminescu street area in central Bucharest, less than 100 metres apart from each other are two projects that were supposed to comprise a few dozen luxury apartments: one is completely frozen (after the underground level and the ground floor were built), whereas the structure was built for the second one, but construction works have been slow to non-existent over the last few months.
The first belongs to Avrig 35, while the second one was built by Spadavel SRL, controlled by Tiralel Inversiones, registered in Spain, with Spadavel having a nine million-euro loan contract with Banca Romaneasca to build seven-floor Edevis.
According to data on the real estate market, there are currently around 10,000 unoccupied homes in Bucharest, some of them unsold, while others are in the portfolio of speculative investors.
The volume of loans granted by local banks for construction is 5.2 billion euros, down 9% against September 2009. So far only ten problematic projects have surfaced, but consultants say big projects are still "kept under wraps", in the hope that the current crisis will not go on endlessly.
The "ruins" of the once booming real estate market are visible all across Bucharest. For instance, in the Mihai Eminescu street area in central Bucharest, less than 100 metres apart from each other are two projects that were supposed to comprise a few dozen luxury apartments: one is completely frozen (after the underground level and the ground floor were b