27.11.2023
Public investments of 1.2 billion EUR and private investments in new, modern, real estate projects of half of billion EUR are transforming Iasi in one of the most important cities on Romania’s investment map.
Ongoing public investments:
- 100 million EUR for the expansion of the airport Terminal 4, with the aim of reaching an annual traffic of 3.3 million passengers.
- 670 million EUR for Iasi Emergency Regional Hospital.
- 300 million EUR for Mircesti-Pascani lot from A7 motorway.
- PNRR 175 million EUR for city modernization: trams, schools, and old blocks refurbishments.
- 40 million EUR from EBRD for Dacia tram depot.
Real estate investors such as Iulius, Impact Developer & Contractor, Prime Kapital, plus retailers such as Ikea and Jumbo, also added Iasi to their portfolio.
Iulius finalized this spring a 120 million EUR investment in Palas Campus. Impact obtained the building permit for a major scheme totaling 1,062 apartments on Copou hill. Prime Kapital is developing a mixed-use project on the former Teba industrial platform: 1,549 apartments and 100,000 sqm of class A offices. Jumbo inaugurated a 10,000 sqm unit in October, while Ikea announced Iasi as the third city where it will build a new store in Romania.
The modern office stock counts for 260,000 sqm. The asking rents range from 12 to 15 EUR/sqm and the vacancy rate is still in the single-digit range.
The city is weak in terms of new, modern housing units. Data collected by RPC from imobiliare.ro show that offers for the first three quarters in 2023 total 1,275 apartments, of which the new units listed count for 410, a minus of 18% as compared to the same period of the previous year.
Regarding the retail sector, 20,000 sqm will be added to the existing 170,000 sqm. The broader Northeast region is the least developed in terms of industrial and logistics, representing a mere 2% of the total modern stock.
In the last 10 years, although Iasi hotel tourist arrivals increased by 105% (around 156,000 new tourists), the number of new hotel rooms increased with only 11%. Branded hotels represent only 12% of total rooms capacity and all of them are within “3-star” ranking. There are no 4* or 5* branded hotels in Iasi.
The county hosts 983,506 people, second only to Bucharest. The metro area of the city of Iasi is where more than half of the county’s population resides. The strong base of an educated workforce attracted dozens of reputable multinational companies, transforming Iasi in Romania’s Silicon Valley.
The proximity to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova makes Iasi an informal capital for the broader region.
