Speaking with investors who invested in Romania, when they are asked to express their feelings of choosing Romania for their investments some of them are deeply disappointed, whereas some others are very pleased. When investigating the area of investments of the two categories, i.e those pleased and those disappointed it is easy to understand the feelings behind each category of investors.
Those who invested in income fetching investments, i.e. rented properties, are all very pleased, because they have a good income which compares very well with incomes from similar investments in other European countries, such London where the income may be one third of the income from similar investments in Bucharest.
On the other hand, those who belong to the category of investors who invested in land without income with the hope of selling at a profit, .they are ‘trapped’ now, because the market in this kind of investments is in dramatic situation because demand does not exist.
Investigating the reasons of their disappointment we see that they invested in land for the purpose of selling it with a substantial capital profit. Of course their disappointment is justified because with the global financial crisis, which of course affected Romania, they have to wait for a few years in order to be able to sell their land at least and the price of their cost.
An investment made 15 years ago for an office building which cost $450.000 now is rented with an income of around E125,000 per annum. In addition the value of the property has substantially increased (between double and treble), so these investors have no reason to be disappointed.
At present those who have some money it is a good time to enter the investment market in Bucharest Romania, instead of keeping their money in several banks with almost nil income and with the fear of haircut. Now with the lower property prices one who enters the investment sector in Romania, probably in 10-15 years will have something like the above case.
The private ownership in Romania is protected by the Country’s constitution in a very strong way. Care is needed at the selection of the property and a thorough investigation of the title deeds of the owner before getting committed with the sale-purchase agreement. When this is done it is clear that property investments in Romania, especially in Bucharest compare very favourably with any other location in Europe.