The building industry this year has recovered after last year’s crisis. During the first two quarters of 2017, the number of apartments made available for occupancy rose to almost 7,000, which is an unprecedented growth. Most probably, the figure this year will reach 8,000 apartments, which will be the highest level since the declaration of Moldova’s independence, economist of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul” Veaceslav Ionita stated in the program “15 Minutes of Economic Realism”, IPN reports.

According to Ionita, in 2016 we witnessed a crisis on the reality market, determined by the negative perception of people. The number of those who purchased apartments with own money declined, but not as dramatically as in the case of those who bought homes with borrowed money. Thus, the people who intended to purchase and had money didn’t change their minds, but decided to wait, while those who intended to borrow money to buy a home preferred to delay taking such a decision owing to the uncertain situation.

The decline in the demand for apartments and in the number of persons who were ready to borrow money led to the most significant decrease in the number of apartments made available for use. In the third quarter of 2015, the number of such apartments stood at 6,250, while in the corresponding period of 2016 at 4,500. In 2017, the situation started to improve following the modification of the perception of people and the greater demand for home loans.

“Currently, we are witnessing a re-formation and recovery of the realty market and the bankruptcy of uncompetitive companies. During the next few years, we will see the completion of the projects started ten years ago. The prices will be kept at a rather low level because the developers will have to get rid of the non-liquidated assets. The demand on the part of consumers will increase following the postponement of home buying decisions in 2016,” concluded Ionita.