September 3 (SeeNews) - Romanian real estate agency RE/MAX said on Tuesday it has brokered real estate transactions worth 79 million euro ($86.6 million) in the first half of 2019, a double increase over the same period of last year.
Of the total transactions brokered during January-June, some 40% were rentals, compared to only 16% in the first half of 2018, the company said in a press release.
"As the real estate market has accelerated lately, the demand for rentals has increased in line with market trends. On the other hand, the higher figures posted by RE/MAX Romania are due, among other things, to the expansion strategy that we have been following since launching on the local market, a strategy which still represents a medium and long term objective for us," RE/MAX Romania president Razvan Cuc said.
Of the total volume of properties traded by RE/MAX offices during the first six months of 2019, some 86% were part of the residential segment, followed by the commercial and office properties segment with 8.5%, land plots - with 3.5% and industrial properties segment - with 2%.
According to company representatives, the most active regional centers for real estate development remain Bucharest, Cluj, Sibiu, Brașov - namely large cities with an accelerated economic growth.
Based on the results recorded by the company so far, as well as on market trends, RE/MAX Romania said it expects about 40% annual growth of all its indicators.
RE/MAX Romania brokered 2,500 real estate transactions worth 155 million euro in 2018.
RE/MAX, founded in 1973 in the United States, is present in 100 countries with over 7,000 offices and 100,000 agents. In Romania, the broker currently operates 53 offices and employs 400 real estate agents.
By 2023, the company aims to operate over 110 franchised offices and employ over 1,000 real estate agents in Romania, according to expansion plans announced earlier this year.
($ =0.9123 euro)