Written by Dr. Sebastian Sipos-Gug – Ebuild srl, EECFA Romania
Revisiting the Romanian residential construction market
We previously looked at the stability of the Romanian residential construction market and the likelihood of a correction even in the scale of the 2008 one. A lot has happened in the year since our previous post and we see ourselves faced with a similar question regarding the future of the residential construction, albeit now of a substantially different one. Previously, the main threat to market equilibrium used to be the oversupply due to speculative development. Now, we are faced with the distinct probability of a drop in demand.
Emergency Government Ordinance no. 114/2018 (EGO 114)
Residential construction was quite active in 2018, and our previous analysis indicated that despite significant growth in the past years, the market could be considered relatively stable. This has changed dramatically due to government intervention at the end of the year through Emergency Government Ordinance no. 114/2018 (EGO 114).
There are a number of features of this legislative paper directly and indirectly impacting residential construction: changing the minimum wage for construction workers, tax breaks for construction companies, changing the taxation of telecom and energy companies, and a new tax on bank assets.
Construction
Starting with 1st January 2019, the minimum wage for construction workers has been raised to RON 3000, up from RON 1900 previously, and higher than the RON 2080 value for the rest of the economy. The government also included in the Ordinance a tax break for these wages, exempt from income and health taxes, yielding a much better net to gross ratio for employees. However, the total impact on salary costs for companies remains significant. According to Continue reading Mixed Feelings on the Romanian residential market