The impact of COVID-19 on the dwelling sector in the Republic of Moldova

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had major consequences for most areas of human activity, including construction, and in particular for the dwellig sector. In this article we try to highlight the recent trends in the development of the housing sector in the Republic of Moldova and how it was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The data of the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova, the surveys conducted by a number of organizations in the country, as well as data from the authors' own survey are used as sources of statistical data. The obtained results showed that the number of commissioned dwellings has decreased, including their total surface and also in urban and rural areas and in all regions of the country, while the costs of the dwellings didn’t have significant changes. The number of purchased dwellings in the framework of government program “Prima casa” has increased. While for the most part people declared that they didn’t spend more during the pandemic period for products and services related to the dwellings, an important share of them increased their expenditures for construction and renovation of the dwelling and the purchase of real estate.