Why Romania is a good option for investments, trends and digitalization in the residential market with Bogdan Bălașa, General Manager HILS Development
Bogdan Bălașa is the General Manager of HILS Development, one of the leading real estate developers in Romania, which aims to build new communities, while promoting access to quality living for as many residents as possible. Currently, HILS has 6 residential projects launched, a planned project horizon of 20 years and has publicly assumed the delivery of 1000 homes per year.
HILS is also one of VAUNT’s partners, and today we are happy to share more of their vision and plans through this interview with Bogdan Bălașa:
How is the residential market developing in Romania? What trends do you see and what are buyers looking for?
We are witnessing an evolution of the residential market in Romania, both from the perspective of the increasing level of information and education of buyers, and the growing need for professionalization among real estate developers.
Buyers are much more interested in integrated, mixed-use residential projects, well connected to transportation infrastructure and related services that ensure the highest possible quality of life.
What makes Romania a good residential investment option, for both locals and foreigners?
The degree of affordability of the purchase represents the main advantage that the residential market in Romania still enjoys and, personally, I believe that it will remain at an attractive level in the next 3-5 years.
Also, returns on investment are superior to others in Central and Eastern Europe, and these two main factors make investments in real estate, and especially residential, top the list of preferences for placing saved capital.
It is also important to emphasize that large cities, especially Bucharest, still have free land with generous, well-located surfaces, which can give rise to future mixed-use real estate projects for urban regeneration.
You have publicly committed to delivering 1000 homes per year. What made you publicly declare this ambitious goal?
We achieved this extremely ambitious standard of efficiency with the help of a very well-organized and coordinated internal structure, both in terms of the construction team and in the office support departments.
This public commitment aims to convey HILS Development’s confidence in the development potential of the Romanian residential market. We estimate a deficit of new housing, both in terms of number and quality, in the most important development regions in the country, starting, of course, with the Bucharest-Ilfov metropolitan area.
What impact do you think digitalization is having on the residential industry? Which processes benefit the most from digitalization?
Digitalization is increasingly beginning to transform the residential industry, which, by its nature, is more resistant to this process than other areas.
At HILS Development, starting this year, we implemented an ERP software solution that integrates the activity of all departments in one place, with the ultimate goal of tracking with much greater accuracy the company’s business objectives at a general level, as well as each individual residential project.
In the HILS organizational chart, there is a digitalization and software implementation department coordinated by a CIO (chief information officer), with the objective of identifying and implementing digital and process automation solutions that significantly increase efficiency on certain levels.
An example of high-performance digitalization, for us, is the CRM-type work interface for the sales team and the online platform for managing monthly payment invoices after receiving apartments.
Why did you choose VAUNT and how does it help you?
The VAUNT solution was recommended to us by one of the consultants we collaborated with at the beginning of the development of the HILS Pallady mixed-use residential project in 2019.
VAUNT helps sales consultants manage leads from the various promotion channels we access as efficiently as possible.
For the sales department, VAUNT is very useful in terms of the follow-up process of a qualified lead, the details of the offer before the transaction, sending HILS products information, setting reminders for deadlines and the notation of the feedback received, all of these aspects having as their ultimate goal the highest quality management of the interaction with a potential customer.
The marketing department is also very interested in the information presented in VAUNT to measure the effectiveness of the different promotion channels used and to constantly recalibrate ongoing campaigns.
More details about HILS Development are available here.
