Apartment prices further down by 10% compared with last year

The real estate market has plunged again this summer, after hopes about a market rebound had emerged.After asking prices had maintained above 90,000 euros on average for a three-room apartment since May 2009, in August the average price dropped to 87,000 euros, according to the ZF real estate index. Public sector salary cuts, announced layoffs and the VAT hike have hurt the market this summer.
The decline against last August amounts to 10% and against January 2010 to 7%. Last autumn, prices did not go down by much, they even rose slightly in some months against previous months, propped by the First Home governmental programme.
The Bucharest average is still high as in some areas prices go beyond 100,000 euros in full crisis.
Bucharest old three-room apartments are selling at almost half the price asked before the crisis, the ZF index reveals.
Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers US investment bank in September 2008, average prices for three-room apartments in Bucharest have dropped from over 140,000 euros to 87,0000 euros at present.
There are analysts saying there is still room for further declines, but owners and real estate agencies cannot imagine the market can dip any further.