ZF Seminar: Housing Market Won't Thaw Without New Buyers

05.25.2011 ZF English

The housing market is still frozen since potential buyers have restricted financial resources, although prices and construction costs have fallen over the past years.

The housing market has no prospects of thawing for the time being, considering that although construction costs are down, the disposable income of potential buyers continues to be insufficient for the purchase of a home, participants at the conference titled "How much it costs to build one square meter of apartment in Romania," organized by Ziarul Financiar in partnership with construction materials producer Sika and construction company Octagon Contracting & Engineering.

Ileana Nicolae, general manager of Sika, says the construction cost is not the most relevant one, but the total price paid in the end by the buyer "because it is the one that will affect the buyer for the entire lifetime of that home.

In his turn, Alexandros Ignatiadis, Octagon's general manager, says demand and the disposable income of a buyer are much more important criteria when assessing the state of the real estate market.