Real estate market will continue to stagnate in 2011

The domestic real estate market will continue to stagnate this year, too, and experts say the main reasons are the unwillingness of the Moldovans working abroad to further invest in apartments in Moldova and the low incomes of the non-migrant population. “The people who are working abroad don't invest in real property anymore. They prefer to buy houses in the country where they are working in rather than at home. This is exactly the reason for the stagnation of the domestic real estate market”, expert Nicolae Ostafeiciuc has told Info-Prim Neo. The stagnation will trigger a further decrease in apartments' prices, which have already dropped by around 30% since 2008. Another trend is that more and more people choose secondary-market apartments located in old buildings, which are smaller and thus cheaper. Given the dwindling demand, the companies dealing in this sector are reluctant to start constructing new buildings. Moreover, according to Nicolae Ostafeiciuc, a great part of these companies are investigated by the prosecutors or the Center for Combating Economic Crimes and corruption for flawed documentation. The expert also said that while in previous years apartments' prices in Chisinau depended to a great extent on location, in recent years they largely evened. Cheap apartments can only be found on the outskirts. Studios and one-roomed apartments in Chisinau range in price from 20,000 to 30,000 euros; two-roomed apartments 30,000-40,000 euros; three- and four-roomed apartments from 70,000 euros and higher. The average market price of one square meter ranges from 630 to 780 euros.