By Andrea Harper, Deputy Editor, Property Secrets

The past five years have been a period of phenomenal growth for Romania's IT market, which is now estimated to be worth more than €2billion.

Romania now has more than 3,000 IT companies, producing revenue of €400million from software and IT services.

Average salaries in the IT industry for local Romanians are around €800 a month - more than twice the national average.

The strong IT sector is generating wealth creation among a growing middle class of young professionals. These highly paid individuals are now driving the property market by creating a demand for modern new apartments, close to where they work.

Where IT goes, the well-paid jobs follow and the property investment opportunities follow.

Costin Lianu, Romania's General Director for Export Promotion, Minister for Commerce and Economy, said: "As the fastest growing IT market in Europe, Romania is rapidly becoming a favourite destination for IT investors. Our investment record demonstrates the optimism that global IT companies have about new business opportunities in Romania as well as its education standards and competitive labour costs."

Romania has proved a magnet for blue chip companies, attracted by the low cost of employing highly skilled workers with excellent language skills in English and German. Romania has the largest number of IT engineers, per capita, than the US, India, China or Russia.

Global companies such as Microsoft, HP, Siemens, amazon.com, Oracle and Emerson are now spread across five regional technology clusters in Romania.

Romania's five technology clusters

Source: romaniaIT

Bucharest has the largest concentration of blue chip companies with Siemens, Oracle and Microsoft based in the capital.

The focus of the IT industry in the capital is on information security and business process outsourcing, such as call centres and payroll operations. The highest concentration of IT workers are found in Bucharest, where 45% of the total jobs in the software and IT industry are based.

Timisoara, in the west, has a 10% share of the national IT and software workforce and is an area specialising in software and telecoms equipment. Siemens is based here with Alcatel-Lucent, the world-leading service provider.

Cluj-Napoca is the base for the process management company Emerson and Liberty Global, the broadband provider. They have been joined recently by Nokia, which is investing €60million in a new plant employing 500 people.

The focus of the IT industry in Cluj is on mechanical engineering and it employs 5% of the total Romanian IT workforce.

Brasov, with its university specialising in maths and computer science, has a ready-made graduate workforce for Seimens and Axway.

Lasi has established itself as the leader in the field of computer-aided design/computer-assisted manufacturing (CAD/CAM). Amazon.com and Siemensare based here.

Romania's IT industry became the focus of world attention when Bill Gates chose it as the location for the global launch of Windows Vista.

Speaking at the launch, held at Microsoft's new global technical support centre in Bucharest, Gates said: "There's been great progress during the 10 years we've been in Romania. The combination of talent, growth and dynamism that we see here makes this a great place for continued investment. I have no doubt that during the next decade, Romania will reap even greater benefits from the knowledge economy."

His views are shared by Alexandru Borcea, director general of the Romanian Association of the Electronic and Software Industry.

"In the last eight years, the IT market has been growing in value by around 20-25% per year. The rate of growth in the IT market has been phenomenal over the last five years. It has certainly been a boom time, with investors attracted by low wages and a highly skilled workforce.

"Romania is now preparing to take the next step and become a global player, where it can compete in a world market."