From CUT to MW. How land values are changing in Romania

Bucharest, September 2026 - Romania's land market is undergoing one of its most significant transformations in recent years. According to Ionuț Stan, Partner & Head of Land Development at Crosspoint Real Estate, the International Associate of Savills in Romania, plots with clear zoning status, approved Zonal Urban Plans (PUZ) and the ability to enter development rapidly are becoming the market's most sought-after assets, as the value gap between fully entitled land and plots lacking planning documentation continues to widen.

"In recent years, land value was assessed almost exclusively through the lens of planning indicators and real estate development potential. Today, the question is no longer how much value we may unlock in the future, but how much certainty we have today and how quickly we can start. Certainty and speed have become pricing factors”, says Ionuț Stan.

The trend was already visible before the new Urban Planning Code (CATUC) came into effect. According to Crosspoint's real estate market report for the first half of 2026, buyers increasingly prioritize fully entitled land and are becoming more cautious toward projects that depend on future approvals. In some cases, transactions are conditioned upon obtaining a building permit before the final agreements are signed, contributing to a growing value differential between land having a building permit and plots carrying significant planning risk.

According to Crosspoint's analysis, the market is increasingly operating at two different speeds. On one side are plots that enable rapid development, benefit from clear documentation and can be transacted efficiently. On the other are land parcels acquired in previous years based on future urbanization scenarios, which are becoming progressively harder to monetize.

"Until recently, a PUZ was the instrument that could double or triple a land plot's value. Today, that logic is changing. The winners are plots with already clarified planning parameters, approved zoning plans, valid urban planning certificates or the ability to obtain permits quickly. The losers are plots purchased solely on the assumption that significantly better planning indicators would be secured sometime in the future", explains Ionuț Stan.

According to him, the gap between land with established planning certainty and land sold based on future potential will continue to widen over the coming years.

"The market was already paying a 20-30% premium for development-ready land and that gap will continue to expand. In many cases, land sold on potential alone will trade at a discount, involve conditional payments linked to future approvals or fail to transact altogether. The unit of measurement is changing. We're no longer negotiating euros per square meter of land, but euros per buildable square meter. That is the only price that truly matters in a feasibility analysis."

At the same time, Crosspoint is seeing an accelerating diversification of buyer profiles active in the land market. While residential developers remain one of the most important investor categories, demand from energy, digital infrastructure, and data center operators continues to grow steadily.

"This year we have seen the emergence of new buyer profiles, including investors in energy and digital infrastructure who evaluate properties through completely different criteria. For an energy storage project or a data center, access to electrical capacity can be more important than traditional planning indicators", says Ionuț Stan.

Areas such as southern Bucharest, IMGB, as well as regional hubs including Jucu, Brașov, Oradea and Timișoara, are attracting increasing investor attention thanks to their infrastructure connectivity and available energy capacity.

"The common denominator is infrastructure. Wherever there is access to power, transport networks and the ability to implement projects rapidly, investor interest is growing. In certain cases, energy availability is becoming just as important as location", explains Ionuț Stan.

Crosspoint's activity in 2026 reflects this shift. The company has brokered major transactions across the residential and retail sectors, including a residential development site in Bucharest valued at more than €10 million and a retail land transaction in Craiova exceeding €9 million. At the same time, Crosspoint is managing mandates to identify a location for a 250 MW data center and to market a 500 MW BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) project.

"We are witnessing a paradigm shift. Over the coming years, we will continue to see strong interest in residential and commercial projects, alongside rapidly growing demand for land associated with energy and digital infrastructure. If, in the past, value was generated primarily through planning parameters, in the future an increasing number of land assets will also be assessed through the energy capacity they can provide. In practical terms, certain segments of the market are beginning to move from CUT to MW", concludes Ionuț Stan.

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Business Review

Forbes Romania

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