Romania real estate holds €22.1bn of foreign capital, but 2025 inflows slowed

Romania's real-estate transactions sector has become the country's second-largest sectoral destination for foreign capital. National Bank of Romania data analysed by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox put the sector's foreign direct investment stock at approximately €22.1 billion at the end of 2025. That represented 16.4% of Romania's total FDI stock, up from 16.0% a year earlier. Only manufacturing held more foreign capital on this sectoral measure.

The stock figure and the annual flow tell different stories. Real-estate transactions attracted €479 million of net FDI inflows during 2025, down from €593 million in 2024. When construction is combined with real-estate transactions, the accumulated FDI stock reached almost €23.9 billion, up 185.7% from about €8.4 billion in 2015. The long-term accumulation is therefore substantial even though the latest annual inflow moderated.

For property investors, the distinction matters. FDI stock measures accumulated foreign capital in resident enterprises and related investment positions; it is not the value of residential property purchases or commercial-property transactions in a single year. The data nevertheless show how deeply foreign capital is embedded in Romania's property economy. Bucharest-Ilfov remains dominant, accounting for 66.9% of the country's total FDI stock, which also highlights the concentration risk and the potential for regional centres to attract a larger share over time.