Romania

Overall construction activity

In 2020, Romania’s GDP amounted to €215 billion - 96.1% of 2019’s value. The corona crisis affected the construction industry with projects facing supply problems, delays in planning and new measures to ensure the health and safety of workers.

Total net investment in 2020 amounted to €21.9  billion, almost the same value compared to 2019. In current prices, the value of  net investment rose by 0.1% compared to 2019. In 2020, net investment in new construction works stood at € 11.9 billion, 9.3% higher than in 2019. Investment in new construction represented 54.5% of the total, compared to 50.1% in 2019.

In 2020, construction represented 6.3% of GDP (6.4% in 2019). The activity level in 2020 is estimated to stand at €11.8 billion compared to €10.9 billion in 2019, an increase of 10.3%. During the first 11 months of 2020, the volume of construction works increased by 16.7% compared to the same period of 2019. New constructions increased by 8.4%, maintenance and repairs by 30% and capital repairs by 50%.

Despite the increase in the volume of activity, the average number of employees in construction registered a decrease of 23% (303,000 in 2020 compared to 394,000 in 2019). 72,000 jobs were lost in 2020.

Housebuilding

During the first 11 months, the volume of works increased by 18.8 % compared to the similar period in 2019. The number of building permits granted in 2020 amounted to 48,553 compared to 50,496 in 2019 out of which 41,695 were permits for residential and 6,858 for non-residential buildings. In 2020, 67,816 houses were built, 62.3% in urban areas and 37.7% in rural areas.