The year 2026 has brought further confirmation of Timișoara’s appeal: the Italian group Ferrero is set to open a new factory here, whilst the German group Kärcher has opened a Global Business Service Centre covering the company’s global operations, with 80 employees in the initial phase. These developments come against the backdrop of a thriving economy: Timiș County ranks among the top three counties in Romania in terms of economic performance, with 268,000 employees, an average net salary of RON 6,465 lei (€1,290) and an unemployment rate of around 1%. These were the main conclusions of the event Timișoara Real Estate Roundtable.
At the same time, the city is benefiting from a wave of major public investment — the Regional Institute of Oncology (€317 million), the new Dan Păltinișanu Stadium (over €100 million) and the conversion of the former military base in Giroc into a multifunctional cultural and educational centre — as well as infrastructure projects that are reshaping the development landscape: the completion of the Timișoara–Arad road, the Western Bypass, the A1 Lugoj–Deva sections and the future A9 motorway to Serbia, which will create a new cross-border development corridor.
In the property sector, the discussion painted a picture of a mature market entering a phase of quality selection. With a shopping centre exceeding 100,000 square metres, a business park of 80,000 square metres and a green space with over 1,400 mature trees, Iulius Town remains the city’s largest property development, with a direct impact on the development of the entire area. IULIUS’s investments in Timișoara have generated direct economic benefits of over 101 million euros (for the period 2006–2025; comprising property tax, contributions to the consolidated state budget and other local taxes).
According to the local property consultancy Hitch & Mosher, approved plots are trading at prices ranging from €35 to €60 per square metre for logistics developments, €125 to €500 per square metre for retail developments, and €200 to €1,000 per square metre for residential and mixed-use developments.
The residential sector continues to rise (+9% year-on-year, according to the Imobiliare.ro index, reaching €2,261 per square metre of usable floor area for new flats), but the city remains affordable, with prices lower than those in Cluj-Napoca, Brașov and Bucharest. Compared with the last two years, the average price for new homes has risen by 16%, meaning that 2026 saw a moderate increase.
With a stock of 293,700 square metres, Timișoara is Romania’s third-largest regional office hub, after Cluj-Napoca (over 300,000 square metres) and just behind Iași (296,000 square metres). According to iO Partners, rents for Class A offices range from €12.5 to €15 per square metre, and the vacancy rate reached 11.3% in Q2 2026. There are no new investments planned in the near future in this sector: the Belgian developer Speedwell has decided to reconfigure the office phase of the Paltim project into a residential development. In response to the evolving needs of the new generation of professionals, IULIUS has launched the group’s first co-working concept in Timișoara, which it will replicate in the other cities where it operates.
With a density of retail space ranking among the highest compared to other county capitals, Timișoara boasts a valuable stock of 175,000 square metres. For this reason, developments currently under construction or in the planning stage are mainly small-scale retail parks and projects designed to complement the existing offering. According to iO Partners, rents in shopping centres range from €55 to €65 per square metre, those for high-street premises on main thoroughfares from €25 to €30 per square metre, whilst rents for retail parks range from €10 to €12 per square metre.
Logistics stands out as the second-largest national hub after Bucharest, with 800,000 square metres and the presence of all the major developers — CTP, WDP and VGP. Rents range from €4.2 to €4.6 per square metre. The most significant announcement for the local market came in September, when the Italian group Ferrero, which produces the well-known brands Kinder, Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, confirmed its factory in Timișoara.
Hotel demand in Timișoara continued to recover in 2025, although it has not yet fully returned to 2019 levels. The first half of 2026 shows demand remaining broadly at the same level as in the first half of 2025, rather than continuing to rise.
| Income tourists | 2019 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | S1 2025 | S1 2026 | S1 ’26 vs S1 ’25 |
| Hotels & aparthotels | 250,054 | 229,450 | 227,023 | 243,610 | 114,962 | 112850 | -1.80% |
| Rooms to let | NA | 4,524 | 11,730 | 10,586 | 5,684 | 6693 | 17.80% |
Source: Est Hospitality
In the coming years, three more public toilets will be opened in Timișoara, namely Mgallery Collection (4 starts), by Accor, in 2027, Hampton by Hilton (3 stars) in 2028, and Courtyard by Marriott (4 stars), in 2028.
“Timișoara is reorienting itself towards quality, connectivity and real demand. In a difficult year for the economy as a whole, the city is demonstrating that the fundamentals that attract human and financial capital remain intact, and the property market is entering a phase of maturity in which well-conceived projects are succeeding,” said Despina Ponomarenco, founder of the Romania Property Club.
