Romania’s capital city is surely becoming one of the most dynamic IT hubs in the world. Built on a communist heritage of excellence in science and technical education, combined with Romanians’ strong language skills, the tech sector has developed rapidly, drawing with it an ever effervescent real estate market.
The top 50 largest technology companies in Romania, which develop software and digital solutions for group companies or for third parties, have increased in the last 10 years by approximately 4 times their turnover and teams in Romania, reaching a cumulative EUR 3 bln. t/o and over 50.000 employees in 2019, according to a Cushman & Wakefield Echinox analysis. Most of these companies, such as Amazon, IBM, HP, Microsoft or Oracle, are also in top largest technology companies globally, which reconfirms Romania’s position among the most dynamic IT hubs in the world.
Bucharest was ranked on the 7th position in the Top 25 Tech Cities of the Future 2020/2021, compiled by FDI Intelligence, a Financial Times service. The combination of talent, capital and infrastructure put Romania’s Capital in front of other cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Stockholm or Frankfurt.
With 5.5% contribution to Romania’s GDP overall formation in 2019, the technology sector has become an important pillar of the national economy, but also of the real estate market, given that companies in this industry have been the most active office occupier in the last decade.
The average net salaries of Romanian employees working in the data technology sector were about 1.600 EUR in May 2020, among the highest in the Romanian economy, but among the lowest in the IT industry worldwide, maintaining the local market extremely competitive in terms of wage costs. Moreover, UiPath is not the only Romanian unicorn, as just recently The Elrond Blockchain, developed by a local start-up, has announced it has exceeded the evaluation of USD 1 bln.
In this context, international and local investors are currently developing innovative office, residential, mixed-use and logistic projects, totally reshaping Romania’s Capital City.
According to BUCHAREST REAL ESTATE CLUB (BREC) data, total investments of approximately EUR 3.5 billion have been injected in Bucharest for projects with delivery dates 2020-2023. The socialist heritage of large industrial platforms and decrepit land stock of the city, located centrally and with good access to public transportation, make way to new,
modern real estate developments.
