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Around 1530, the Spanish conquerors began to search for an imaginary land that they had heard had streets paved with gold because the metal so precious to them was superfluous in the area. They were driven by the idea of wealth and ignored nothing. For them, El Dorado existed and had to be found! Five centuries later, an El Dorado takes another shape in our country. After the fall of the “myth” of Bucharest, another arises: Transylvania, the place where people say that life flows differently.
The country beyond the mountains
Developed Transylvania occupies 102,000 square kilometers of the country’s 230,000 square kilometers. So yes, if we divide Romania in two, it is almost half. An area where, throughout history, cultures have mixed, traditions have been preserved and people have lived differently. More than 7 million people live here. Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, French, Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, rich or poor. Everyone leaves their mark on this mix that many now put on the “must-have” list.
How do you know that people are changing their options? When they want to move to that area! The Transylvanian real estate market has reached its best period in the last 30 years. This means that there is supply, but above all, that there is demand.
A recent study by SVN Romania showed that home sales in the first seven months of this year increased compared to the same period in 2019 by 25.5% in Cluj-Napoca and 24.5% in Sibiu. The two cities are now the main real estate markets in Transylvania. Furthermore, in Oradea, the number of new homes delivered doubles compared to last year, and in Alba-Iulia the increase is 85%, an absolute record!
House price explosion
In fact, real estate market experts say that never in the last three decades has there been such a huge growth in the real estate market in Transylvania.
Dragos Vîlceanu, real estate expert: These cities have been ignored for a long time. The big property developers focused on Bucharest. When the capital reached a balance, a saturation, and the developers left with real estate investments far from the city, they had to go over the Carpathians.
Cluj-Napoca is the hub of residential construction development. The city needs housing to absorb the tens of thousands of employees who have moved to the area in the last decade. IT companies are the main vector for attracting new workforce, but let’s not forget that a significant technology market has developed around Cluj. People moving to Cluj-Napoca are in need of housing and developers have flocked to the area.
Dragos Vîlceanu, real estate expert: Transylvania lagged a bit behind. It was normal for that to happen. If local governments encourage this, investors immediately feel the trend and need to build apartments that will be bought by those who move to those cities.
This has led cities to large companies, offering tailor-made salaries. By default, many young people from the country or foreigners came to work and live here. The same is true in Oradea or Sibiu, cities that are home to major automotive centers, with tens of thousands of employees. People need housing, they are willing to pay and the market gives them what they need.
College life also has a huge impact on the real estate market, especially the rental market. Babeș-Bolyay in Cluj-Napoca is one of the largest universities in the country, if not the largest, and other major university centers in Sibiu, Brașov, Arad or Oradea attract tens of thousands of students.
Șerban Țigănaș, architect, professor at Cluj-Napoca Technical University: Personally, I felt the phenomenon of migration from the perspective of the students we have at the university, who, if some twenty years ago were mostly from Cluj, over time they became mostly from an extensive recruitment area, which exceeds to neighboring counties and all of Transylvania. A relevant photo is one that you can take at any time on the street or in public parking lots, looking at the license plates of vehicles, which in a significant proportion are from other counties, many extra-Carpathians. A large number of them find it much easier to find work at the university or immediately afterwards, in the place where they studied, settling there. Some people buy homes since they are students, in order to save the rent, convert it into a credit rate and thus the real estate market is very active.
Developers create for them too. But also take advantage! Apartment and rental prices have skyrocketed! In Cluj-Napoca, the built square meter exceeded 1,300 euros, higher than that of Bucharest, and the rents are comparable to those of the Capital. Two-bedroom flats sell for an average of 60,000-70,000 euros, and those in central Sibiu exceed 200,000 euros, for example.
Princes and explorers in rural Transylvania
However, not everyone is attracted to big cities. For example, last year more was built around Sibiu than in the city. Even the specific peace of the Transylvanians is not really … peace in the big cities, so the maximum dose of life in peace can now be found … in the countryside. And when the promoters of the people of Transylvania are the son of the Queen of Great Britain and one of the most famous travel journalists in the world, the attraction becomes maximum.
Romanians begin to dream of little Prince Charles, growing old in the shade of a tree or on the porch of an old, restored Saxon house or a Charlie Ottley exploring the mountains and hills. Viscri, Criț, Biertan, Mărginimea Sibiului, Sighișoara or other small towns in Transylvania are more often on his search list than Magheru, Victoriei, Piata Unirii or Kiseleff.
Prince Charles’s love for Viscri is well known. The heir to the British Crown has made the small town a household name around the world, and applications for similar homes are now in high demand.
Recently, the British explorer Charlie Ottley, who produced the successful Wild Carpathia series, decided to buy an old wooden house near Brasov, in Șirnea, also with a barn and an area of 6000 square meters. A dream I had since 2013.
Charlie Ottley, director of Wild Carpathia, for Digi24: I won’t change anything, just make some repairs. This is paradise, the view is incredible. Şirnea could become the second Viscri. It is one of the last places of its kind in Europe.
Such advertising made to the region cannot leave you indifferent!
Șerban Țigănaș, architect, professor at Cluj-Napoca Technical University: The phenomenon of migration in rural areas is much more present with the modernization of the roads and especially with the irruption of working from home, online, of course with the increase in the quality of telecommunications and Internet services and their cheaper. There are already picturesque towns where those who have bought a second home or have definitely moved can become the majority and have a voice in communities and administration.
All roads lead to … Cluj
Even in a quiet life, you must move … fast. Romania has just under 1,000 km of roads built in 30 years. But a good part of them pass through this area. Another great advantage of Transylvania! We do not yet have a highway that crosses Romania from west to east, but we have completed or are working on two high-speed highways that cross the region.
A1, takes you from Sibiu to Arad. On the route, we can turn right, and from Sebeș we will soon go, also along the road to Alba-Iulia and Cluj-Napoca. From Cluj you will reach Târgu-Mureș easily and quickly, and in a few years Cluj will also be connected by motorway to Oradea and the Hungarian border. Even from Borș 2 customs we will hit the road directly to the Atlantic Ocean! The road network has already led to the development of the region and, in the future, it will be an important option for individuals and investors.
Transylvanian Marketing
Pictures make a thousand words, and in the modern world, pictures make money. And tourists. At the end of August, the Bistrița-Năsăud county became the first in the country to have a county mark. “Gate of Transylvania” was called by those who want to promote the county with this name, and about the promotional video Charley Ottley said it is “wonderful, like a breath of fresh air.” These marketing strategies are extremely necessary and can be a winning book. People understood that they had to capitalize on local beauties and “sell” them. Look for the video on the internet, check it out, it will make you think, in a good way!
Culture does not get in the van
Marketing is also what has happened around cultural life, one of the best represented in Romania and which takes place on three levels: music, cinema, theater.
Music – Untold and Electric Castle attract more than 200,000 young people to Cluj-Napoca and Bonțida each year. Untold has already gained great notoriety and has been included in the top of the best music festivals in Europe.
Cinema – Also in Cluj-Napoca, with a tradition older than the festival where Armin van Buuren mixes until 7 in the morning in Cluj Arena is TIFF. The first international feature film festival in our country is now in its 19th edition!
Theater – And if we talk about stage and actors, the Sibiu International Theater Festival quickly stood out and became a landmark for artists from all over the world. The first edition took place since 1991! And in 2005 it was the engine that led Sibiu, two years later, to the title of European Capital of Culture. FITS has become the most important performing arts festival in Romania and the third in Europe!
The weather, the surprise factor
Yes, the climate can influence the choice of a place of residence to a greater extent than expected. And Transylvania has a few quirks that give it a major edge. It’s neither too hot nor too cold, and the Carpathian arch acts as gloves that protect the entire region, says climatologist Roxana Bojariu.
Roxana Bojariu, ANM climatologist: Due to the local conditions in Romania, the way the Carpathian arch modulates atmospheric circulations on a larger scale, we may have different manifestations of the weather in the areas within the arch and in the west compared to the east, south of the country. . Romania is a very interesting case because local factors are very diverse. The Carpathian Arch can divide the country in two from this point of view. The type of soil and the very rich hydrographic network also influence different meteorological phenomena.
For now, things seem to have settled on a favorable slope for this historic province. For decades, Romania was divided into what is beyond and beyond the mountains, and the “province” was seen as the sum of those areas where everyone wants to come to the Capital. The exact time was in Bucharest, and all roads led here. However, the paradigms change and the Capital begins to lose interest in the damages of the “country between the mountains”.
