Domestic real estate growth faster than in Poland

The development of the real estate sector has attracted large companies that specialise in project management services such as the Land Lease Group, listed on the Australian stock exchange, with annual turnover worth 8 billion euros, which expects the Romanian market to register significant growth over the next five years. Bovis Land Lease, the British subsidiary of the Lend Lease group, will open a regional office in Bucharest, which will coordinate operations in Ukraine, Hungary and Romania, as well as increase the number of projects on the local market. “What took 10-15 years to develop in Poland, will be built in five years in Romania, because the growth of investments is much faster on the local market. In fact, Romania is in competition with Bulgaria, Albania and Serbia, much smaller markets, while in Ukraine, there is still a lot of bureaucracy and political instability,” said Grant Robertson, general manager of Bovis Land Lease Romania, in charge of the company’s Polish office until 2006. According to Robertson, Romania is currently more attractive to investors than Poland and the Czech Republic, due to the shortage of shopping centres, office space and housing.