Wienerberger: Romania had no real estate boom

Heimo Scheuch, CEO of Wienerberger, the world’s biggest brick producer, with 1.8bn-euro annual turnover, states the firm he runs will expand further in Romania, considering the three plants are not enough to cover a future rising demand. Scheuch believes Romania has yet to reach the optimal house construction level compared to the number of inhabitants, as a normal average for the 22 million inhabitants would be of 5-6 housing units/annum/1,000 inhabitants. “I am looking at figures and judging from them, there was no boom in Romania. During the peak period, 2.5 housing units were built per 1,000 inhabitants per year. By comparison, Spain, which saw a real boom, built 17 housing units per 1,000 inhabitants per year”. Scheuch’s statement comes after the Romanian subsidiary’s revenues slid by over 50%, to around 36m euros, after the weight of Romanian operations in the group’s overall revenues dropped by one percentage point, from 3% in 2008, to 2%.