Romania real estate sales hit slump

Sales of real estate in Romania dropped by over 27 per cent last month, new figures have revealed.

Data from the public notaries' national union revealed that 17,302 transactions took place in January 2009 compared to 23,778 in the same month last year - a decrease of 27.23 per cent, Balkans Business News reports.

And the fall widened to 43.22 per cent when compared with data from January 2007, when 30,474 deals occurred.

Vice president of the union Ion Marin told the news source that previous easy access to bank loans had created an imbalance between supply and demand in the country.

He added that the credit crunch has made people think twice about making a purchase, noting that job insecurity means sales may not necessarily pick up even if banks relax their lending criteria.

Romanian newspaper the Standard recently claimed that values of land in the country may fall by up to 90 per cent during the course of 2009, while the cost of property may decrease to half of the highs seen in 2007.