Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca or Brașov: where a short-term rental apartment earns more

If you want a short-term rental apartment (regim hotelier) away from the coast, the same question keeps coming up: Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca or Brașov? The answer depends on what you measure. Divide takings by the purchase price and the ranking looks clear. Deduct commissions, cleaning, utilities and taxes, factor in each city's specific risks, and the gaps narrow considerably. We have gathered the latest public data, from October 2026, on prices, rents, takings and local taxes, so you can see where short-term renting makes sense and where a long-term let wins.

Three markets with different profiles

The Crosspoint Research (Savills associate) report on the 2025 short-term rental market describes three very different markets. Bucharest is the country's largest urban market: €66.8 million in takings, 20% more than the previous year, from an average of 5,507 active listings, 541 more than a year earlier. The authors note that supply is growing, but demand is growing faster. The average daily rate (ADR) was €56.5, and occupancy, at 62%, was one of the highest among the cities analysed. A listed property took in an average of €1,006 a month. The capital had 2.06 million tourists, 1.1 million of them from abroad (+8%), and the peak month was September.

Brașov leads the regional markets: €20.4 million in takings, 1,946 listings (+7%) and the highest takings per property outside the capital, €10,471 a year. Crosspoint describes it as a year-round tourist destination. Cluj-Napoca has 1,306 listings and average takings of €9,910 per property, with a July–August peak of about €1,000 a month, driven by Untold and Electric Castle, festivals with around 800,000 attendees between them.

Official data confirm the demand. In January–July 2026, the municipality of Bucharest had the most tourist arrivals in the country, 1.095 million, and Brașov County came third with 724,000, after Constanța (INS, via Agerpres). The capital's airports handled a record 8.45 million passengers in the first half of the year (+5.08%), and Wizz Air opens a base in Brașov in December 2026, with new routes to Barcelona, Madrid, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden and Chișinău. The Federation of the Hotel Industry of Romania (FIHR) places Bucharest and Cluj in the business-travel pole, which draws most tourists from Germany and Italy, and Brașov in the cultural pole, favoured by American and French visitors. FIHR also reports that more than 45% of bookings for urban destinations such as Bucharest and Brașov are made less than 7 days before arrival. Daily price adjustments therefore matter more than on the coast. We wrote about foreign tourists and where they come from in our analysis of 2026 source markets.

Prices and rents in October 2026

The imobiliare.ro index for September 2026 shows how differently the investment starts in each city. Cluj is by far the most expensive: €3,316 per square metre, almost €1,000 more than Bucharest (€2,312/m²) and Brașov (€2,309/m²). Over the past year, however, asking prices rose fastest in Bucharest, by 8.8%, against 5.2% in Cluj and 4.5% in Brașov. The VDI.ro medians, calculated from active listings, bring this down to the level of a specific apartment.

The first two rows come from the imobiliare.ro index, the next two from VDI.ro on 11 October 2026, and the last is our own calculation: the median price divided by 12 months' rent. A few things to keep in mind. These are asking prices, not transaction prices. In Cluj, rent is the same as in Bucharest even though the apartment costs 42% more, so the price equals 25 years of rent before taxes and costs. In Brașov, the long-term rental market is much smaller: 285 listings for two-room apartments, against 1,334 two-room apartments for sale, so the fallback plan has to be checked for your area. For new-build apartments, check whether the advertised price includes 21% VAT, as the transitional period for the reduced 9% rate ended on 30 September 2026.

Gross yield: a ranking that looks clear

Gross yield is the simplest indicator: a year's takings divided by the purchase price. For a two-room apartment bought at the median price, with takings equal to the Crosspoint average for each city, the result looks like this:

For Bucharest, we multiplied the monthly average of €1,006 by 12. It is an average across the whole year, not a peak month, so the calculation holds here. You cannot do the same with the Cluj peak: €1,000 × 12 would mean €12,000 a year, 21% above the real average of €9,910. Nor should the gap between the two yields be taken at face value. The gross short-term yield starts from takings, a large share of which goes on commissions, cleaning and utilities, whereas with a long-term let the tenant pays the utilities.

What is left after costs: a hypothetical example for a two-room apartment

We used the same method as in our valuation of an apartment in Constanța or Mamaia, with one important difference. In cities, stays are short: in January–July 2026, the average stay in Romania was 2.1 days (INS), whereas in Constanța a short-term booking lasted 6.5 days on average (Crosspoint). Cleaning and laundry therefore come round far more often, and their cost takes a bigger share of takings. The example is not a forecast for any particular apartment but a checking tool: replace the assumptions with your apartment's figures.

Short-term rental

Long-term let

After costs, the ranking changes. At the average, short-term renting barely matches a long-term let in Bucharest (3.5% against 3.6%) and falls behind in Brașov (2.7% against 3.2%) and especially in Cluj-Napoca (1.8% against 2.6%). Under our assumptions, short-term renting pulls ahead of a long-term let from the following annual takings:

• Bucharest: about €12,160, practically the market average;
• Brașov: about €11,660, 11% above the average;
• Cluj-Napoca: about €12,160, 23% above the average.

In other words, in none of the three cities does an average apartment justify the effort of short-term renting on its own. The difference comes from above-average apartments: an area tourists look for, good photos, solid reviews, daily price adjustments and a plan for the weak months. If a seller or property manager promises takings 20–30% above the city average, ask for evidence: month-by-month payout reports, comparable listings in the same area and their calendars. We explain how to read this data without fooling yourself in our guide to AirDNA and KeyBid Puls data.

Two caveats. The cost of cleaning is the most sensitive assumption: at 10% of takings instead of 15%, the net yield rises to 4.0% in Bucharest, 3.1% in Brașov and 2.1% in Cluj-Napoca, and Bucharest moves ahead of a long-term let. Second, the example does not include a mortgage. If you finance the purchase with a loan, compare the repayment with the net result, as in the Constanța example. The calculation of income tax and CASS, with all the thresholds, is in our tax guide for short-term rentals.

Tourist taxes in 2026: big differences between cities

All three cities apply a special tourism promotion tax in 2026. The tourist pays it, but each city calculates it differently:

Guests see the tax in the total price, so fixed amounts weigh more on short, cheap stays. In the example above, the tax amounts to almost 7% of the accommodation price in Bucharest and 8% in Brașov, against 0.5% in Cluj-Napoca. In Brașov, the tax is four times higher than in 2025, when the two taxes added up to 3 lei a night.

In Bucharest, the tax changed in 2026 from 2% of the rate to a fixed 10 lei and applies to all accommodation, including apartments, whether classified or not. The decision provides that when a platform such as Booking or Airbnb collects the payment, the platform also collects the tax. Otherwise, the accommodation unit collects the tax, files a tax return with its sector's local tax office and pays the amount by the 10th of the month after the stay ends. A draft amendment, put to public consultation in August 2026, would keep the 10 lei but would leave collection to the accommodation unit and introduce some exemptions. Check the version in force and whether the platform actually collects the tax for your listing. In Cluj-Napoca, the accommodation unit withholds the tax, shows it separately, files a tax return and pays it monthly, by the 10th of the following month. Besides the tourist tax, building tax rose in 2026 in many cities, so check the exact amount with the local tax office.

Bucharest: the highest gross yield, with seismic risk in the calculation

Law 212/2022 bans renting out space in buildings rated seismic risk class I, and Airbnb has started checking listings. Owners who receive a notice have 14 days to prove that the building is not rated class I, and fines reach 10,000 lei (Profit.ro). At the end of May there were at least 207 illegal tourist rentals in class I buildings in Bucharest, with capacity for more than 1,000 guests a night. The capital has at least 404 buildings rated class I, and City Hall has sent around 3,000 notifications (The Guardian).

For an investor, this changes how you read prices. In Bucharest, older apartments have a median asking price of €2,090/m², against €2,867/m² for new ones (VDI.ro). A low price in an old building in the centre may hide exactly the problem that gets an apartment removed from the platforms. The seismic risk class is recorded in the land register, so ask for an up-to-date land register extract before making any offer. The full steps are in our article on buildings with seismic risk.

Beyond the risk, Bucharest has the broadest demand base: business travel, city breaks, events and the busiest airport in the country. Demand is less seasonal than on the coast, peaking in September, but competition is also the fiercest, with more than 5,500 active listings. For an estimate by area, open the KeyBid Puls page for Bucharest, where prices are grouped into 750 m zones.

Brașov: year-round demand and a higher tourist tax

Brașov has the advantage of demand spread across the whole year: the old town and city breaks, Poiana Brașov in winter, and the mountains and day trips for the rest of the year. This is one of the reasons why takings per property are the highest outside the capital, even though purchase prices are almost at Bucharest's level. The Wizz Air base opening in December 2026 could bring more foreign tourists precisely in the cold season, and FIHR reports that American and French visitors favour cultural destinations such as Brașov.

Two things pull the yield down. The first is the tourist tax of 12 lei per tourist per night, the highest of the three cities. The second is the smaller long-term rental market, which makes the fallback plan harder to check. Asking prices here rose the slowest, by 4.5% in a year, and the gap between new apartments (€2,785/m²) and older ones (€2,241/m²) is wide. Area data are on the KeyBid Puls page for Brașov.

Cluj-Napoca: high prices, low yield, a solid fallback

Cluj has the most expensive apartments of the three cities, so the yield starts from a low base. Tourist demand has two sources: festivals and summer, with about €1,000 a month per property in July–August against a monthly average of around €826, and business travel, where FIHR places the city alongside Bucharest. At the average, short-term renting does not beat a long-term let: you need takings 23% above the Crosspoint average.

Cluj does, however, have a solid fallback. The median rent for two rooms is €550 a month, the same as in Bucharest, and the market is deep, with 1,255 listings. A mixed strategy can make sense: short-term renting in summer and during the festivals, then tenants for a few months in the rest of the year. Lets of more than 30 days are taxed as an ordinary rental, and the contract must allow you to get the apartment back in time. We wrote about long stays in our guide to off-season offers. The tourist tax is the lowest here, at 0.5%. Area data are on the KeyBid Puls page for Cluj-Napoca.

How to choose: the three cities side by side

If you want the highest gross yield and are prepared to carry out careful legal checks, Bucharest has the largest market and demand all year round, peaking in September. If you want takings across the whole year at an entry price close to the capital's, Brașov is the natural choice, provided you factor in the tourist tax. Cluj suits mainly those buying for the long term who accept a lower yield: here, short-term renting only makes sense for above-average apartments, and a long-term let remains a solid alternative.

What to check, whatever the city

1. The area, not the city. The city average says little about a specific apartment. Compare it with listings in the same area and their calendars.
2. The seismic risk class. Ask for the land register extract and check the entry on the risk class, especially for older buildings.
3. Classification and the owners' association. Since July 2026, the classification application requires the association's approval and, where applicable, the consent of directly affected neighbours. The steps are in our guide to Order 948.
4. The local tourist tax. Find out who collects it for your listing, when the return is due and how it shows up in the price guests see.
5. The fallback plan. Work out what the apartment would earn as a long-term let, using the real rent in the area, not the city average.

The full list, from search to first guest, is in our short-term rental investor checklist.

How KeyBid helps with the comparison

The KeyBid ROI Calculator extension for Chrome and Firefox analyses listings on Storia, Imobiliare and OLX directly on the page and shows an estimated annual return with a colour-coded label, calculated from the listing's public data. This lets you compare an apartment in Bucharest with one in Brașov or Cluj-Napoca on the same basis. Viewing the estimate costs nothing. For discussions with the bank or a partner, you can generate a PDF report for 49.99 lei. The report is an investment analysis, not an ANEVAR valuation report.

If you would rather not run the apartment yourself, KeyBid lists property managers and cleaning and maintenance companies. The details are on the for owners page.

Common mistakes

• Comparing cities by gross yield, without deducting commissions, cleaning and utilities.
• Multiplying takings from the Cluj summer peak by 12.
• Buying in an old building in Bucharest without checking the seismic risk class in the land register.
• Forgetting the local tourist tax, the monthly returns and the way the tax changes the total price guests see.
• Treating asking prices as transaction prices.
• Using the city average for an apartment in an area without tourist demand.
• Skipping the fallback plan: what the apartment would earn as a long-term let.

Frequently asked questions

In which city does a short-term rental apartment earn more: Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca or Brașov?

In gross terms, Bucharest: about 10.3% a year for a two-room apartment bought at the median price, against 8.7% in Brașov and 6.0% in Cluj-Napoca. After commissions, cleaning, utilities and taxes, our hypothetical example leaves 3.5%, 2.7% and 1.8%. The specific apartment makes the difference, not just the city.

Is short-term renting worth it in Cluj-Napoca in 2026?

At the average, no, if you compare it with a long-term let. In our example, short-term renting only pulls ahead from takings of about €12,160 a year, 23% above the Crosspoint average of €9,910. It can be worthwhile for very well-located apartments or as part of a mixed strategy, with tourists in summer and tenants for a few months in the rest of the year.

How much is the tourist tax in Bucharest, Brașov and Cluj-Napoca in 2026?

In Bucharest, 10 lei per tourist per night. In Brașov, including Poiana Brașov, 12 lei per tourist per night: 7 lei promotion tax and 5 lei Salvamont tax. In Cluj-Napoca, 0.5% of the accommodation price excluding VAT, for each day of the stay. The tourist pays it, but it has to be collected and declared correctly.

Can I let an apartment short-term in a building with seismic risk?

Not if the building is rated seismic risk class I. The law bans renting out space in these buildings, Airbnb checks listings, and fines reach 10,000 lei. The risk class is recorded in the land register, so you can check it before buying.