July marked a 14-year record on the Bucharest residential market in terms of total authorized usable surface area of 350.000 square meters, which is equivalent to almost 7.000 apartments, Colliers data shows.
The strong increase in authorized areas in the third quarter canceled the decrease in the first part of the year, so that at nine months there are only 1% fewer authorized units compared to the same period last year.
For comparison, in 2019 and 2020, in Bucharest the average monthly authorized area was 127.000 square meters, equivalent to almost 2.500 apartments, while in 2021 the average monthly authorized area increased to 139.000 square meters, equivalent to almost 2.800 apartments.
In the first nine months of this year, on the back of the strong recovery in the third quarter, the monthly average of authorized areas increased to 156.000 square meters, or the equivalent of almost 3.100 apartments.
In Ilfov, in the first nine months of the year, the authorized area decreased by 6% compared to the same period last year, in opposite trend compared to Bucharest, in the sense that the first half of the year brought an increase of almost 10% in authorized areas, and the third quarter brought decreases.