The total volume of commercial real estate transactions recorded in Romania in the first half of 2025 reached €386 million, marking a 7.4% decrease compared to the same period last year.
The office sector attracted the highest share of investment in H1, with a volume of approximately €169 million, accounting for 44% of the total. Close behind was retail, with €163 million (42%). The remainder of the transactions involved industrial assets and hotels. This marks the first time in two years that real liquidity has returned to the office segment, after a prolonged period during which it was almost completely off the investors’ radar. The rebound reflects both a narrowing of the gap between buyer and seller price expectations and a renewed confidence in the outlook for the office market.
Roughly two-thirds of the total investment volume – €253 million – came from international investors, while domestic capital accounted for the remaining €133 million. Among local players, Alfa Group and Pavăl Holding stood out, having acquired part of the Iride platform and the Ethos House building, respectively. However, the share of Romanian capital remains well below regional benchmarks, and the market continues to rely heavily on interest from international investors. With the notable exception of M Core, most active investors in Romania during this period have come from Central and Eastern Europe or the Middle East.
“In a market dominated by regional investors, a platform with a strong CEE focus, such as iO Partners, becomes a real differentiator. In the first half of the year, we advised on four of the six transactions over €25 million and facilitated the entry of two new investors – Granit Asset Management and Solida Capital. Based on the projects currently in progress, we expect at least two more new entries by the end of the year,” said Andrei Văcaru, Head of Capital Markets CEE at iO Partners.
The two largest transactions in H1 involved office and retail assets. Skanska sold the Equilibrium 1 office building in Bucharest – with a leasable area of 20,700 sqm – to Granit Asset Management, marking the investor’s first acquisition in Romania. In parallel, MAS REI sold a portfolio of seven retail parks located in seven cities across the country to M Core, totaling over 32,000 sqm. iO Partners represented the buyers in both transactions.
Prime shopping centre yields compressed slightly in Q2, from 8% to 7.75%. Yields for office assets remained stable at 7.75%, while industrial yields held steady at 8%.
