Carrefour Romania, the division of French Carrefour Group plans to open seven new hypermarkets every year, and to number about 40 new units by 2012, the Ziarul financiar reads on July 21 quoting sources of Hyparlo Company, a part of the French retailer.

Analysts expect enlargement investments to reach 450 million euros over 2009-2012.
Carrefour chain tries to preserve its top position among the hypermarkets, given that newcomers Real and Kaufland top it in terms of stores number.

The market share in this segment will attain about 50% in 2012, says Hyparlo, the company managing the Carrefour hypermarkets in Romania.
Operating in Romania since 2001, the Carrefour chain aims at exceeding the sale threshold of 1 billion euros late this year.

The Romanian economy saw an 8.6% rise in the first half of the year, because of a good agricultural year, and if the GDP growth rate and the investment dynamics are preserved, Romania could become one of the top ten EU countries by 2020 in terms of economic strength, according to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Varujan Vosganian. “We have not had such a high economic growth for at least twenty years. It is hard to compare this with the time before ‘89, but these are record levels for the period since the introduction of the GDP index,” said Vosganian.

In the first quarter of the year, the GDP climbed 8.2%, while the growth rate recorded in the second quarter of the year amounted to 8.9%. The MEF official said Romania could climb to the 12th position in the ranking of European states in terms of GDP, from the 17th place at present.

HSBC’s European Active Real Estate Fund has completed its first property deal in Romania.

The fund has purchased a 50% stake in the Expo Market Doraly trade counter and warehouse park in Bucharest, Romania, for €104m (£82m).

The fund has closed with €450m (£355m) of equity.

The scheme comprises 592,000 sq ft of commercial space including showroom, warehousing, and has a further 376,740 sq ft at various stages of development. There are currently about 800 tenants at the park, which is on both sides of the DN2 highway, eight kilometres east of Bucharest.

Matthew Hunt, fund manager at HSBC’s Specialist Fund Management, said: ‘The site is already well-established among the local wholesaler community not just in Bucharest but further afield within Romania too, and we intend to help our partners realise the full potential of this strategically located park, which will improve further on completion of planned ring-road improvements to provide an exceptional trading environment’

‘This acquisition is very much in line with our strategy for investing in real estate-focused assets in the wider Balkan region, and will hopefully be the first of many value-added deals we complete

The popularity of Romania as a holiday destination is set to increase in the next few years, an airline has predicted.

Low-cost carrier Wizz Air said the country offered a range of attractions to visitors, potentially making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe

Natasa Kazmer, the airline’s head of corporate communications and public affairs, commented: “It has a booming capital, picturesque countryside and the beautiful beaches of the Black Sea.”

She added that since budget carriers had made travel to Romania quick and affordable, it was now well-placed to become the new “must-see place of Europe”.

The country’s growing popularity with holidaymakers could also boost its appeal as an overseas property investment spot.

This week, Wizz Air announced the launch of a new service between the Romanian capital Bucharest and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

According to the American Automobile Association, Romania experienced a 700 per cent increase in the number of US tourists this year.

A study conducted by Unicredit Group reveals that 11% of Romanians intend to buy a home during the following three years, well above the 6% average in the Central and Eastern Europe states.
Although the number of owned home in the South-Eastern states is higher than in the Central Europe, and financial possibilities are quite far lower, some 15% of the population here intends to purchase a home during the following 10 years.The fast increase of income, the easy access to credits and superior economic growth rates are the main causes generating a 24% annual growth rate for real estate credits, the analysts say.

Foreign tourists, mainly from the European Union, are showing an increasing interest in traveling to Romania, national media reported today.

The increased number of tourists who decide to head to Romania’s seaside and mountain resorts, according to the Evenimentul Zilei newspaper, comes after long years of avoiding the country.

According to data by the National Statistical Institute, an increase of 35 per cent in the number of foreign tourists can be observed. From the total number of tourists, 62.5 per cent come from the European Union, of which 35.9 are Hungarians, 22.1 are Bulgarians, 9.1 are Germans and 8.1 are Italians.

In the last month, according to the publication, 616,300 tourits have visited the country, which is a 5.7 per cent increased compared with May of 2007.

In Romania, the credits taken by the population were on the rise in Q1, reaching 18.1% of GDP, 1% more than in Dec. 2007.
Data from Romania’s Central Bank (BNR) say that in end March, the balance of the crediting to the population had reached 76.54 billion RON (or 20.5 billion euros).

Consumer credits amounted to 1.5 billion euros in Q1. They accounted for 14.3% of GDP this March, up 0.7% from the end of last year, read calculations made by Ziarul Financiar daily, based on data from the Central Bank and the National Institute of Statistics.

Mortgage and real estate crediting accounts for only 21% of the credits to the population, consumer credits represent the highest percentage. The daily writes that the Central Bank’s statistics offer a distorted image, because mortgage credits are considered consumer credits.

Credits taken by the population are much below the average in the euro area, where they accounted for 55% of total crediting in end 2006.

Comparisons with mature markets show a very high growth potential for retail crediting, for mortgage crediting firstly. Most bankers connect their development plans with crediting with real guarantees, which has high growth potential, they believe.

The Swiss Golf & Leisure Development company, a joint venture established by five persons from Switzerland and Romania, is investing in a real estate project with an estimated value of 50 million euros, informs daily Business Standard on June 23.

The project includes an 18-hole golf course, a driving range, and 350 homes in the western Dragomiresti Vale area, near Bucharest. Company representatives said the project would also include a hotel with a minimum of four stars. The complex will be completed in 2010.

Prince Dimitrie Sturdza, promoter of the project, said the total investment in the golf course amounted to 5.6 million euros. Swiss Golf & Leisure Development was established in 2006, and the majority share package is owned by Radu Chiriac, a Romanian architect living in Switzerland.

This is the second real estate project with an 18-hole golf course, the first being that of the Silver Mountain, developed by INR Management in the central Romanian resort of Poiana Brasov.

The net average salary in Romania rose by 23 percent in May compared to twelve months earlier, the National Forecast Commission says.

Wages now stand at an average of Lei 1,248 (€347).

Gross average incomes stood at Lei 1,704, compared to Lei 1,750 last year.

The net average income of Romanians grew by more than 15 percent in December 2007 compared to the previous year.

For 2009, the National Forecast Commission is expecting a net average salary of Lei 1,303, which will rise to 1,819 by 2013.

However Bulgarians and Romanians still have the lowest incomes in the European Union, according to leading international bankers, JP Morgan.