Bucharest, July 7, 2026 – The residential market in Bucharest shows, at the end of the first half of 2026, clear signs of recovery. After an adjustment start to the year, a period in which transactions with apartments in Bucharest fell by 16.6% in the first three months, compared to the same period in 2025, the second quarter brought a visible revival in demand, confirmed by ANCPI data.
The number of transactions with individual units in Bucharest increased by 2.2% in April, by almost 16% in May and by more than 26% in June compared to similar periods in 2025, marking three consecutive months of growth. Overall, this recovery moderated the decline from the full semester to just 1.7% compared to H1 2025, to just over 21,000 units traded, according to data from Crosspoint Real Estate, Savills’ International Associate in Romania. At the level of the entire metropolitan area, including Ilfov, the decrease is even smaller, of only 1.3%, with 25,634 homes sold.
“The figures for the first half of the year confirm a trend that we have been following for several quarters: the residential market in Bucharest is no longer growing uniformly, but differentially, depending on the area, segment and the quality of the offer. The adjustment of less than 2% of demand, at the city level, actually hides an increasingly clear polarization between areas with limited supply and solid demand, such as Sector 1, and the rest of the market,” says Ilinca Timofte, Head of Research, Crosspoint Real Estate.
Most transactions in the first half of the year took place in Sectors 3 and 1, with 12,726 and 9,573 units, respectively. The context behind these figures is different, however. Sector 3 also leads to new home deliveries, with 11,447 units completed between 2022 and 2025, while Sector 1 is the sector with the fewest new homes delivered in the city in the same period, only 4,627. The demand in the area remains, however, one of the highest in Bucharest. Permitting restrictions, high land prices, and architectural and urban planning standards in District 1 limit the number of developers able to deliver here, while buyers’ appetite remains constant.
“We see more and more clearly, in interactions with customers, a change in mentality. Buyers are increasingly choosing the most affordable option and more and more often the area where they feel comfortable in the long term, close to schools, hospitals, transport and parks. Price still matters, but more and more Bucharest residents are willing to pay extra for a location that simplifies their daily lives,” says Oana Popescu, Head of Residential, Crosspoint Real Estate.
The pattern can be found throughout the city. Demand is stronger in areas such as Theodor Pallady, in Sector 3 (the middle segment) or in the north of Bucharest (the medium-upper and premium segments) than in the more accessible areas in the south and west. The explanation is increasingly related to infrastructure. Buyers feel the difference in quality not necessarily in the residential projects themselves, but in the deficient nature of public transport, access to schools and hospitals, as well as parks in peripheral areas. The preference for location over the lowest price also supports the current level of prices within the city, both for new and old homes.
At the market level, after a 20% increase in 2025, new home prices visibly slowed down in the first half of 2026. The average price per net square meter in Bucharest exceeded EUR 2,600, with an advance of 5% compared to December 2025. A sign of stabilization also comes from construction costs in the residential segment, which increased by only 1% in the first quarter, in line with the European average. Geographically, the west and south remain the most accessible areas (1,850–2,200 EUR/sqm), the east remains in the middle segment (2,600–2,900 EUR/sqm), and the north continues to be the most expensive, with prices above 3,650 EUR/sqm. However, the average of 5% hides important differences between areas. In neighborhoods with limited supply and high demand, price increases remain well above average, while in areas with more generous stock the pace of growth has moderated considerably.
Pragmatic and selective buying behaviour is largely driven by a number of macroeconomic and regulatory developments in recent times. Annual inflation remains the highest in the EU (9.7% in May 2026), the labor market is increasingly tight, and the increase in VAT on housing and the entry into force of Law 207/2025, which introduces stricter buyer protection requirements and complicates the financing of projects based on off-plan sales, have significantly increased the cost and risk associated with the purchase of a home.
The more the financial and bureaucratic effort of the purchase increases, the fewer buyers are willing to assume it for a medium option, preferring to direct this effort towards a home that offers them long-term certainty through location, infrastructure and the quality of the project. This behavior is a typical signal of a market in an advanced stage of maturity, where buyers become more informed and attentive to the risk-benefit ratio of each purchase.