Property for Sale Romania - Country Overview 

The Romanian countryside is dotted with historic castles, medieval buildings, ancient monasteries and quaint villages with old fashioned horse carts on the remote rural roads. Many cities retain their historic buildings, while layers of history has created an eclectic mix of architecture influenced by Saxon rule, Turkish and Austro Hungarian Empires, Russian and French architects.

The capital Bucharest was one of the leading European cities between the two World Wars and was dubbed the Paris of the East for its fine architecture, high society and cultural life. That all changed with the communist regime of Ceausescu, which was one of the most oppressive in Eastern Europe. He used the devastating 1977 earthquake to clear some parts of the city centre for his megalomaniac building projects. His most beloved project was the Palace of the Parliament, which with its 1000 rooms is the biggest building in the world after the Pentagon, and is 10% larger by volume than the Great Pyramid of Giza. He built vast housing estates of ugly, concrete blocks of flats to house the 2 million capitals population. But Ceausescus legacy was not all bad. Bucharest has an efficient Metro system and Romania proudly boasts one of the best educated workforces in Europe.

After the revolution of 1989, which toppled the hated dictator, Romania went through years of painful political and economic transition, marred by corruption, high inflation, unemployment and low incomes. Finally, after a decade of negotiations, Romania was accepted in the EU club. Many Romanians see that as a new era, bringing the prosperity from which several generations were deprived during the communism. 

Since 2004 there is a visible gear change in the economy, helped by the steady increase of investments prompted by foreign investors interest in Romania as a potential service and logistic centre for the region.  The opening of new multinational offices around the country has facilitated the birth of a considerable and growing middle-class with enough disposable income to fulfil their dream of moving from the grim old apartments to new, modern developments.

The residential property boom, which started two years ago, is likely to continue for many years, since the demand for new homes is met by very limited supply. Romanian government estimates that by 2020 the country would need around 1 million new units, most of them in the capital, while for the next 2 years there would be between 10 000 and 20 000 new apartments offered on the market. That huge local demand is coupled with prices for Bucharest between 800 and 1200 Euros/sqm, so it is no surprise that investors are heading in increasing numbers to the new property star of the East - Romania.