Real estate developers will have to build energy-efficient blocks and houses to adapt to the new demands of buyers in the premium residential segment. Romanians are looking for homes that provide them with at least 50% lower or zero energy bills and that also have smart home features, to increase their quality of life without additional expenses, points out Nexo Group, a real estate developer of smart homes and supplier of construction installations. In this context, Romania will have a remarkable advance in the development of new energy-independent homes, at a faster pace and in a shorter time horizon than previously forecast.
“Currently, there are a limited number of houses with low energy consumption and innovative technologies on offer from real estate developers. Such a house, with underfloor heating, ceiling cooling, a ventilation system, but also smart home automation including application lighting and digitally controlled air conditioning, costs between 400,000 and 850,000 euros, depending on the useful area and the number of rooms. However, more affordable energy-efficient homes will also appear in the near future.
As for apartment buildings, new constructions with the nZEB (nearly Zero-Energy Building) standard are almost non-existent. However, the transition to energy-efficient homes with zero utility bills is inevitable and will happen faster than anyone in the industry expects.
For many Romanians, the ideal home is a smart ecosystem, with a consumption reduced by at least 50% or even completely self-sufficient in energy, but also with smart home facilities, with temperature control from the phone, with a charging station for an electric car and even with a swimming pool with heated water in winter. Real estate developers will have to build houses and even blocks of flats with these facilities, especially since Romanians are becoming more demanding and are looking for solutions that will ensure lower bills so they can have a higher quality of life”, says Sorin Lăpădatu, founder of NEXO Group, which includes Nexo Imobiliare and Nexo InstalConstruct.
Romanians who intend to buy an energy-efficient home with smart features are generally couples or families with high incomes, from middle management, top management, consultants or entrepreneurs, working in IT, medicine, architecture, energy or other fields, from Bucharest-Ilfov, Cluj, Constanța or Timișoara, oriented towards a lifestyle improved by technology. They are followers of advanced technology and want smart homes, with features for optimal remote control, from their phones. They also want to integrate as many energy consumers as possible into their homes, such as modern electronics, artificial intelligence devices, and gadgets interconnected with various applications that will simplify their lives. They have a long-term mindset and do not only want to reduce energy bills but also increase comfort in the home and in everyday life with minimal or zero energy costs.
The ideal home for Romanians who want a better life is also smart
An energy-efficient home is equipped with photovoltaic panels and air-to-water heat pumps for heating, hot water and cooling. These facilitate the reduction of dependence on electricity and gas to zero consumption. However, in addition to being an energy-efficient home, Romanians are increasingly interested in having a smart home that improves their lives.
“In the future, a house without smart elements will be considered obsolete, as happened in the past with homes without their own central heating or with poor insulation. The trend is clear: developers who want to differentiate themselves in the market are starting to include smart home solutions as standard. In large cities and premium suburban areas, automation for comfort and energy efficiency will become the norm, not just an option. In the coming years, we can expect to see more and more smart home residential complexes, where integrated control of climate control, lighting, and security will be included in the standard package of the home. A house with integrated smart technologies is approximately 30% more expensive than a non-technological one, but these features make homes more attractive to a certain segment of buyers and increase their resale value,” explains Sorin Lăpădatu, founder of NEXO Group.
Many developers will develop houses and blocks of flats with these technologies, from photovoltaic panels, and heat pumps to smart home facilities, but a great deal of expertise is required in this area of energy-efficient construction in order to be able to build such buildings.
NEXO Group is among the first developers in Romania to build smart and energy-efficient homes. The NEXO Nature residential complex, located in Pipera-Voluntari, includes 14 ultra-energy-efficient smart villas, with almost zero heating and cooling costs. It is developed on an area of 5,000 sq m, in the middle of nature, with an investment of 10 million euros.
With built-up areas of up to 380 sq m, the houses have 1 or 2 floors, 6 living rooms, 4 bathrooms, a 7-meter-high living room, a generous terrace on the 1st floor, a courtyard with green space of up to 220 sq m and a private swimming pool that can be heated in cold weather. The homes have an innovative design and bring a totally new concept to Romania, to meet environmental norms and the needs of people now, but also in the future, for a better and more sustainable lifestyle.
Are housing prices rising?
In 2025, real estate developers in Romania face several challenges that affect their costs, execution speed, and demand for new homes. High construction material and labor costs, more difficult access to financing, demand affected by rising mortgage interest rates, increasingly strict regulations on energy efficiency, infrastructure, and market competitiveness issues, and changing buyer preferences are among the difficulties facing developers this year.
In this context, the general trend in the real estate market will be one of increasing prices, but at a slower pace than in previous years. In large cities and areas well connected to infrastructure, prices will continue to grow, supported by demand and high construction costs. If Romania’s economy slows down and access to credit becomes more difficult, it is possible that prices will stabilize in the second half of 2025, but without significant decreases, explains Sorin Lăpădatu.
