Buying a home has become an increasingly distant goal for many Romanians, as real estate prices have risen and incomes have not kept up. Many confess why they gave up on their plans to buy a home.
In Romania, house prices have been on a continuous rise in recent years, even though many cities have been affected by demographic and economic decline, which has caused many houses to remain empty in their neighborhoods.
In many localities, housing prices continued to rise, although housing supply remained tight, limited to buildings built before 1990, some half a century old, and equally old utility networks that have not undergone extensive renovations.
Romanians resigned to the thought of buying a home
Many Romanians see the purchase of a home as an important goal, which they associate with stability, family and less worries about the future, but they say that these are increasingly difficult to buy with the income they obtain.
“I did some calculations, taking into account the jobs I think I could have access to, and I came to the conclusion that I won’t be able to buy even a €50,000 studio apartment in a small town, no matter how hard I work. The thought makes me sad, because I want to start a family.” writes a Romanian on the social networking platform Reddit, wanting to know if others also go through the same state of disappointment regarding the possibility of purchasing a home.
A young man thinks he could have bought his own home only if he had sold his grandmother’s house in the country, but he gave up on that thought when he saw his parents happy to use the household on their days off and do the gardening. Another Romanian declares himself resigned to the thought of such an investment.
“I prefer to live in rent, honestly. I know, it’s a waste of money. But at least I’m quiet, I know that I won’t miss 30 years and if I lose my job, goodbye to the house. I move where I want, when I want. I can easily change my job to another city, for example, which I did without any stress. The child finished kindergarten and I moved to an area where I wanted to go to school. Maybe in 20 years, with investment help, I’ll have my money let the child get an apartment, and I can get a house in the country, nearby. We don’t all have to own houses.” add this one.
Money raised in the West or from bank loans
Another netizen claims that he was able to fulfill his desire to have his own apartment after working for the past few years in the West.
“I managed to buy a house for 250,000 euros in Holland with my girlfriend. We pay much less than if we were renting and basically we can sell it after five years and get the difference. Prices are going up and we will also make a profit”someone else adds.
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Not everyone is willing to work hard in the West for such plans. Other Romanians say that by working in Romania, progressing in their career and showing seriousness, they could buy their own apartment.
“With work, starting as a waiter, construction site, salahor, cashier, then programming, DevOps and software architect, I ended up getting an apartment in Trapezului, which is now rented and pays part of the installment on the house bought in 2022. Through the bank, of course, but the apartment is paid in advance”, states one of them.
Mortgage loans, a solution for those willing to pay long installments
Some see bank loans as a solution for the purchase of a home, citing family and professional stability as conditions.
“Two people with relatively good incomes can afford to pay the installments of a loan taken out for the maximum period of 30 years. In a few years, when the salary will be increased and it’s time for children, you sell the apartment for a significantly higher price than you bought it. You pay off the loan and use the remaining money as a down payment for the new purchase.” explains a netizen.
However, other Romanians claim that they do not want to reach retirement by working to pay installments. Another solution debated by Romanians is the search for cheap houses that can be renovated, provided that the price of the buildings is low and the renovation costs do not exceed expectations.
“In underprivileged cities there are chances to find cheap housing. But you have to raise the money elsewhere”a netizen thinks.
However, someone else claims that Romanians give too much importance to the need to have their own home.
“We shouldn’t make buying a house such a big goal. Housing is temporary: there’s a flood, a fire, a war, etc. and you don’t have it anymore, and so it is with many things in life. Invest in yourself.” says someone else.
In Romania, the Capital leads the list of the most expensive homes, followed by the city of Cluj Napoca, both following the rising trend of prices on the real estate market. Most often, shared apartments in Bucharest are offered for at least 100,000 euros, sometimes the selling price exceeds 200,000 euros. In Cluj-Napoca, Iasi and Constanța, their cost is somewhat lower, but increasing compared to previous years.
In several small towns in Romania, from areas disadvantaged following the industrial decline and depopulated in the last decades, the price of some apartments remained far below the market price, in some cases reaching below ten thousand euros, but the modest living conditions, the isolation and the economic and environmental problems of the localities make such offers to be avoided by Romanians looking for housing.
