Opportunity for DIY store operators

Compared with Western Europe, the number of new homes per head of population in Eastern Europe still lags well behind, as shown by the figures from the Building Monitor of B&L Marktdaten GmbH in Bonn.  However, the construction of exclusive detached homes for the growing upper class is generating substantial sales potential. In Romania, for instance, detached homes accounted for around 82 per cent of completed housing in 2004, with an average house size of 105 m2. Romania is thus in the early stages of a property development cycle that is discernible in other Eastern European countries: the purchasing power level of the population at large is not expected to initiate a reverse in the trend until after 2008, when it will bring a significant increase in multiple-unit housing.