New “luxurious” apartment?Checked 57, less than 10 “value for money”

My company avoids having a big portfolio of residential offers. We activate on this domain only upon request of a specific client, searching only for him, not “in general”, collecting all that is available. These days we have been working on a new project: We have 3 clients for whom we search “luxurious apartments” in the “good areas” of the city Dorobanti, Capitale, Primaverii, Kiseleff etc. It is also interesting because all these 3 are very serious people, who know what they want and they gave to us specific directions. So, we started calling our collaborators, discussed with some developers and we also “scanned” the market for offers…

The result was really interesting: Indeed the prices have gone down, comparing to 2008. More or less I would sump up the situation in 5 points:

• This is probably the market segment with the smallest % of remaining “crazy” people. Yes, we also met and heard of owners asking 4.000 – 6.000 euro / built sq.m. for a not renovated villa or apartment, located at a small street etc. But it looks that 60 – 70% of the owners realized that if they really want to sell their properties, they have to land down to reality.
• Maybe this is because in 98% of cases the banks do not finance the investment on a property like this. So, we talk only for clients with cash liquidity and interest in “not distress properties”, a rare species nowadays.
• More or less, a top apartment of 3 – 4 rooms can be found nowadays at the range of prices between 1.500 – 2.200 euro / sq.m. There are less than 10 properties (usually in a new project) which “have the right” to ask for more, reaching 2.500 – 4.000 euro / sq.m.
• (In the same time smaller or similar apartments in not refurbished old blocks, without serious facilities and high class finishings can be purchased for as low as 1.200 – 1.800 euro / sq.m. And we refer to the same areas…
• Most of owners consider that the location itself is enough for someone to purchase the property and he should not check the quality of finishings, the neighbors, the structure of the building etc. Unfortunately they will be the ones who will wait the most. Because if someone wants to buy their apartment and live in it, he has to take into consideration that he will invest another 40 – 60% of the price he paid so as to completely renovate it. (And still the rest of he block will be… “not nice”).

Except from all the above, I would like to share with you something else: Out of 57 offers we checked, 18 were eligible as “interesting to present” to our clients. But at the second phase of checking and after visiting the apartments, more or less they chose less than 10, as “value for money” properties. The conclusion is clear: There is still not too much “product” available for the prices that the clients want to pay. (At least now there is something more serious than in the past…)

Let us see what this year will bring. It looks very interesting already…

PS. I am sorry, but I can not keep it for me. The serious cases came either from developers directly, or from serious Real Estate agencies we collaborate with. But unfortunately (and despite all the anger that this truth causes to some people out there) the majority of “market players” remains “not very professional”…