Real Estate Deals In Romania Dn 25% In Sept-Dec, Dn Over 7% On Yr In 2008

A number 149,679 of real estate deals were closed in September – December 2008, compared to 196,327 in the same period the year before, which translates into a 23.76% decrease.

The downward trend that the realty market started on in September maintained in December as well, when the number of deals reached 33,000 compared to over 50,000 in December 2007, decreasing about 35%.

The biggest decrease was registered in November, when the number of deals was down 54%, compared with slowdowns of 15% registered in September and October.

For the entire year 2008, the number of real estate deals in Romania reached 484,765, down 7.07% compared to 2007, when 521,636 deals were closed.

The lower number of deals also had an impact on the collection of taxes notaries public collect. In 2008, taxes from realty deals amounted to 1.048 billion lei (EUR1=RON4.2340), down 12.3% from the RON1.196 billion collected in 2007.

At the beginning of 2008, Romanian notaries estimated tax collections would increase about 30%, based on continued price increases on the real estate market.

Taxes on realty deals range from 1% to 3%, depending on property value and acquisition date.