Timișoara, in western Romania, saw companies lease 63% of all office spaces transacted outside of Bucharest in the first three months of 2025, according to a report by Fortim Trusted Advisors, a member of the BNP Paribas Real Estate Alliance. The tech hub of Cluj-Napoca came in second, with 25% of the demand, and Iași, with 12%.
Despite the demand in these cities, the report notes a decrease in the average leased space, down to 988 sqm in the first quarter of 2025, from 1,767 sqm in the first quarter of 2024, and a 27% reduction in the volume of modern office space leased outside Bucharest.
“In secondary cities such as Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, and Iași, the office vacancy rate is lower than in the capital, which is why the relocation of a large company leads to a series of cascading transactions, with several smaller companies targeting the vacated space,” said Nicolae Ciobanu, managing partner – Head of Advisory at Fortim Trusted Advisors.
“These tenant movements in the market offset the lack of new building deliveries in these cities during this period,” he added, cited by Economedia.
Overall, 8,807 sqm were leased in Timișoara in the first three months of 2025, compared to 8,038 sqm leased throughout all of 2024.
Cluj-Napoca saw six transactions carried out, with a total area of 3,417 sqm, according to the report. Last year, Cluj-Napoca was in first place in terms of office space demand, from the first to the last quarter.
“Regional centers can develop at a faster pace than Bucharest in the next two to three years, as there are several commercial projects with building permits. For example, Cluj-Napoca has the most office space set to come into the market, over 200,000 sqm, and in Timișoara approximately 30,000 sqm,” said Ciobanu.
“However, it remains to be seen at what pace office demand will evolve, a very important factor for companies being the tax system, which will be decided in the upcoming period at the political level,” he concluded.
(Photo source: Facebook/Dominic Fritz)
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