Romania

Romania’s housing crisis in 2025 is defined by severe affordability challenges, supply shortages, and deteriorating housing quality. Overcrowding remains among the highest in the EU, with more than 45% of Romanians living in cramped conditions. Affordability has worsened as house price-to-income ratios continue to rise and home prices have surged by 14% year-on-year. The average mortgage loan nears €65,700, while the average net salary in cities falls well short of what’s required to afford median rent or purchase a new home. Housing supply is increasingly constrained: new housing deliveries dropped by 15% nationwide and 21% in Bucharest, while building permits have decreased over 30% from their 2021 peak. Construction costs and restricted access to credit further limit new projects. Meanwhile, more than one-third of Romania’s housing is in urgent need of repair, and over 41% of people still lack access to proper water and sanitation. Over 24% of the population lives under the relative poverty line, with children, rural families, the elderly, Roma communities, and single-parent households disproportionately affected. In cities, the majority of workers cannot afford market rents from a single salary, often resorting to overcrowded, low-quality housing or debt. The lack of adequate and affordable housing impacts not only society’s most vulnerable but also a broad segment of middle- and low-income residents.

The Romanian government's approach to affordable and sustainable housing involves several initiatives, though challenges persist. The "New House" program, which provides state-backed guarantees for home loans, has faced a budget reduction for 2025, now set at approximately €117 million, a significant decrease from the previous year's €1 billion[1]. This program aims to support first-time buyers but does not offer fixed interest rates, exposing beneficiaries to market fluctuations. Additionally, Romania is shifting towards more sustainable housing through new regulations promoting energy-efficient building practices. Builders are incentivized with tax breaks and subsidies for using eco-friendly materials, aligning with EU directives[5]. The National Plan for Energy Efficiency targets a 50% reduction in building energy consumption by 2030[5]. Despite these efforts, the lack of social housing and public housing stock remains a significant issue, with only a negligible share of the market allocated to these sectors[7]. The government has not yet implemented concrete programs to address the severe shortage of affordable housing or to improve the quality of existing housing stock significantly.

Housing cooperatives play a very marginal role in Romania’s housing sector. Cooperative housing accounts for less than 1% of the total housing stock, far behind many other European countries. Most Romanian housing cooperatives are structured as associations of homeowners who collectively manage their residential buildings, rather than providing non-market, collectively owned rental homes. The vast majority of Romanians—over 95%—own their homes, a legacy of post-communist privatization, leaving little space for alternative tenures such as rental or cooperative arrangements. There is renewed interest in cooperative housing as an affordable solution to pressing problems: rising house prices, high overcrowding, and severe shortages of affordable homes for young and low-income people. However, cooperative housing remains at an early stage and is largely driven by pilot projects and a few local government initiatives, sometimes supported by EU funds. Nationally, there are no specific programs or strong policy frameworks promoting the development of housing cooperatives. While local authorities in some larger cities have begun exploring partnerships with cooperatives for affordable housing development, these efforts are limited. The government’s main housing measures focus on subsidizing private homeownership and supporting energy efficiency, rather than expanding the cooperative sector. As such, despite growing recognition of their potential, housing cooperatives remain a tiny and slowly evolving segment of Romania’s housing landscape.

Romania’s housing market in 2025 is marked by **high home ownership** (94.3% nationally), among the highest in Europe. By contrast, **only about 6% of Romanians rent their home** countrywide, although urban areas report lower ownership (73% in cities). **Apartment prices keep rising** due to limited new supply, rising construction costs, and reduced access to credit. The median purchase price per square meter for an apartment across Romania is around **€1,700–€2,000**, with Bucharest reaching about **€2,044/sqm** as of April 2025. **Median rent prices** for a standard apartment (2-room) are estimated at **€8–€10 per sqm monthly** countrywide (€550 for a 2-room in Bucharest, or about €10/sqm). **Publicly owned housing (including social housing) is extremely limited**, making up a negligible share of the market after the mass privatizations of the 1990s. Social housing is provided exclusively by local authorities, not by private or central government actors. In Romanian cities, the terms “public housing” and “social housing” are often used interchangeably, but true social housing is reserved for the most vulnerable and is marked by severe shortages, poor conditions, and lengthy waiting lists. The **public (social) housing stock is well below 2% of total housing**, among the lowest in the EU. This chronic deficit leaves most low-income Romanians dependent on the private market.