The Moldovans choose to buy apartments with an average area of up to 70 m2. Over 20,000 real estate transactions were recorded during the past year, by about 5,000 more than the average for the last few years. 70% of the sales were logged in Chisinau.
According to economic expert Veceaslav Ioniță, of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul”, the realty market in Chisinau shows signs of reinvigoration after ten years of continuous decline and stagnation of apartment prices. The average price of an apartment of 70 m2 rose slightly, from €36,500 in the second quarter of this year to €36,600 in the third quarter. The reinvigoration is due to the rise in the population’s purchasing power and the changes in the purchase preferences. The average salary of the population recalculated in euros the past year rose from €262 to €310 a month.
Andrei Bătrînac, of a realty company, has told IPN that the number of apartment buyers is higher, but the rise is insignificant. 80% of the buyers raised home loans. The people purchase mainly two-room apartments with an area of up to 70 m2 whose price does not exceed €40,000 or a one-room apartment with an average area of 40 m2 that cost about €25,000.
Pavel Caba, chairman of the Employers Federation of Builders, Roads Workers and Building Materials Producers “Condrumat”, confirmed that the sales grew slightly on the realty market, but this is due to the taken out loans and the implementation of the program “First House”. The rise is insignificant. The incomes of most of the citizens working in Moldova do not enable the families to purchase a home or an apartment. During the past years, the developers focused on the building of apartments of a small area as the tendency is to purchase economy housing, not luxury apartments.
