RE/MAX Trends in the European Residential Market Study: The majority of Romanians are homeowners and many are looking for a new home

RE/MAX Romania - part of the world's leading real estate company and the largest network of franchised real estate offices in Romania – has shared the results of its Europe-wide study on trends in the residential market, in which it presents interesting information on the changing attitudes of people, taking into account factors such as cost of living, environment, connectivity, and international traffic, as well as urbanization and deurbanization.

Among the biggest changes of 2022 compared to the previous year are the increase in the number of people wanting to buy a house, those wanting to migrate from urban to rural areas, and those wanting to buy a house abroad. According to the study, the majority of Romanians are homeowners, while a large share are inclined to buy property.

“We live in times of great political, economic, social, technological, and environmental change, major factors that drive the global news agenda and have a significant impact on the decisions ordinary people make about where they choose to live and invest,” reads the press release. “The rising cost of living has a significant influence on housing decisions across Europe, but its effect is felt very differently from country to country. Counter-intuitively, research shows that this, in addition to other factors, could lead to increased activity in the residential market.”

Despite the rising cost of living and tough times ahead, the RE/MAX study shows a net 23% increase in the number of people looking to buy property in Europe compared to 12 months ago.

In fact, 1 in 3 Europeans are looking to invest in residential property, either at home or abroad and are ready to act, with those aged between 26 and 45 being more inclined to invest. This is most evident in Portugal (+40%), Finland (+36%), Bulgaria (+35%), and Romania (+30%), where a significant minority of respondents are more inclined to be looking for a new home.

According to the study, a large proportion of Romanians are already homeowners (72%), more than 10% above the European average.

Of those considering moving to a new house, 15% plan to do so in the next year, and about 25% plan on doing so in the next three years.

While the majority (54%) plan to stay in an urban area, 29% of Romanian respondents said they would like to move to the countryside, and 35.6% of respondents would not rule out moving abroad, one of the highest percentages in Europe, second only to Turkey at 45%.

When considering houses, space is important to Romanians. 38% of those now considering a possible move said they wanted more space, an even more significant factor for those considering a move to the countryside (60%).

Looking at the people who are living in the countryside or intend to move there, this percentage is surpassed on the list of motivating factors only by the desire to be closer to nature (70%). Another motivating factor for these people is the added privacy (54%). And a much higher than average proportion of Romanians associate the countryside with better access to organic food. 47% said this was a reason to live in the countryside, compared to 22% of all Europeans.