thanks, neil. much that's convincing in your opinion of romania's property market. i've heard from friends in IT that romania and bulgaria both produce excellent staff (and very effective virus originators). what about the very real possibility that romania (and poland?) may find their economic growth leading to inflation, and interest rate hikes?

Good article Neil. Its true that Romanians do seem to be more up and doing than some other countries i´ve travelled to. Theres no limit to how fast the place can grow, cos people are hard workers and have work ethic and good educational background. Take Spain for instance, I love the people and the country but the work ethic doesn´t seem to be here and can be awkward to do business efficiently in this country at times. Its no criticism to spain but this thursday is a holiday here so that means little will get done this week at all and productivity is so low! Not saying that Spaniards aren´t bright people but the warm weather and lifestyle here isn´t geared much to working hard and not many people in spain speak good english and even if they do they may not have confidence to use the english they know. I doubt we could say the same for Romania, as u have just pointed out. By the way, do PS plan to source anymore off-plan deals in bucharest? Its unusual that we haven´t seen any deals from bucharest for a while.. Does it have something to do with the fact that entry price is higher than people expect or desire or thats its simply impossible to source deals? For me a 90,000€ apartment in bucharest is a good investment but i guess prices have gone up a bit. Best regards Liam

I guess your article aims to stimulate discussion by throwing in a few contraversial comments. With regards football......football in Romania is almost a religion and played by kids in the streets everywhere. perhaps that explains why S. Bucharest won the European cup pre 1989 revolution. I seem to remember England was a good team in the 60's in the good old days.....jumpers for goal posts etc! My wife is a good example of a Romanian who taught herself English. This was not really a product of the Education system although I agree that Educational standards are high on lower budgets than the UK, but more a result of wall to wall American TV in the early 90s. As regards IT......perhaps the rumour emanated from Romania! On a more serious note, I have heard many stories about the pre 1989 regime and how the masses were treated like animals. My wife for example studied by candle light in the early 80s because the electricity was turned off by the state for days on end, even in mid winter when temperatures are well below zero. Perhaps ( and I hate to generalise) the real secret of success is the general hunger for a better existence when looking over at the lifestyle in the West.

Hi Neil I like your football theory. Cluj has two teams. CFR Cluj are currently top of the League here in Romania. Unfortunately the other team is bottom of the League but did beat Steau Bucharest recently! How does that impact on your property investment decisions? I agree wholeheartedly with your comments about Romanian education. Go to http: / /www .ippr .org .uk /publicationsandreports /publication .asp?id=457 and you will find a report prepared in advance of Romanian and Bulgarian accession. It makes very interesting reading...the government totally ignored it of course and used accession as an excuse to make it even more difficult for Romanians to work in the UK (the requirement to have a worker accession card and unfair procedures for spouses). Go to page 24 at the top and you will find the following statement: 'For example, Romanian migrants working in the global IT sector are second only to Indians in their volume and many Romanian social workers, unable to find work at home, practise their profession in the UK.' I was responsible for those Romanian social workers..the authors jumped to the conclusion that they went to the UK because they couldnt get jobs here. They had jobs (although I spotted a number of young and extremely talented ones who got their first jobs in the UK) but the problem was that there was no job mobility; a declining NGO sector and extremely low salaries in the public sector. I used to refer to my social workers as 'bloody brilliant Romanians' because that's exactly what they are. The majority were graduates from Cluj and Iasi..Bucharest graduates tended not to be of the same intellectual quality. IT and social work are very different professions which I guess assists in demonstrating Romanian flexibility and diversity. I've attached some pics with some stories...every single one I took to the UK had a story! Kind regards Charles of Cluj The Upload Images button is not working! I'll post another reply...Romanian talent.

Neil Just to add some spice to your footbal theory you should be aware that the Cluj women's football team are by far the best in the country. Charles

Hi Charles - that means the Cluj ladies team is like Arsenal - top of the league! This matters greatly, as I am both a proud father of two girls and an Arsenal fan. Currently, they are playing basketabll - but there is always hope! Cheers Neil

HI Neil and others Let's hope the Upload button works this time or I am writing this for nothing. When I started recruiting Romanian social workers the first group of five were interviewed by Suffolk in December 2002. All got jobs...and Suffolk were so impressed that by February the next year they spend three days in Bucharest interviewing. Later on that year in September 2003 I brought nine social workers over to the UK for interviews. I had three sets of interviews that week and all got jobs by the end of it including Ana. Ana is a Cluj graduate and at that time she had one year's post qualification experience. She was a bit of a monkey but I have the gift of spotting talent. Earlier this year she got promoted by Lincolnshire to a senior Team manager post with a nice salary in excess of 40 thousand pounds. Not bad for a 28 year old. The next example of Romanian talent is Elena pictured in the Moroccasn desert last Easter. Elena had graduated in 2003 and just could not get a job in Romania. She spent 9 months as an au pair in Belgium and contacted me because she wanted to come to the UK as an au pair. I asked her how she saw her future in 3 year's time to which she replied that her dream was to work as a social worker. I promised to make her dream come true and hired her as my PA. She moved from Iasi to Cluj and after 6 weeks cheekily asked me if she could have a little holiday in the UK. I could not refuse and when she came to the UK I happened to have two interview opportunities. I told the relevant Managers that I do not employ monkeys and that Elena was worthwhile interviewing. They reluctantly followed my advice and both Managers offered Elena a job necause they too recognised that she was talented. She now does a lot of court work for Thurrock; flies to Marrakech every six weeks or so where she has a Moroccan boyfriend. The last pic is Luciana a social worker from Bucharest.Luciana is a very good friend and earler this year she brought several mebers of her family to the UK for a visit. I met her Aunt who is from Cluj and works as an electrical supervisor on the Iulius Mall project here in Cluj and her cousin, Sorin, is regarded as the best geological engineer here in Cluj. So I hope these three stories - there are many more - back up your opinion that Romanians are highly educated and motivated to succeed! Regards Charles

HI Neil and others Let's hope the Upload button works this time or I am writing this for nothing. When I started recruiting Romanian social workers the first group of five were interviewed by Suffolk in December 2002. All got jobs...and Suffolk were so impressed that by February the next year they spend three days in Bucharest interviewing. Later on that year in September 2003 I brought nine social workers over to the UK for interviews. I had three sets of interviews that week and all got jobs by the end of it including Ana. Ana is a Cluj graduate and at that time she had one year's post qualification experience. She was a bit of a monkey but I have the gift of spotting talent. Earlier this year she got promoted by Lincolnshire to a senior Team manager post with a nice salary in excess of 40 thousand pounds. Not bad for a 28 year old. The next example of Romanian talent is Elena pictured in the Moroccasn desert last Easter. Elena had graduated in 2003 and just could not get a job in Romania. She spent 9 months as an au pair in Belgium and contacted me because she wanted to come to the UK as an au pair. I asked her how she saw her future in 3 year's time to which she replied that her dream was to work as a social worker. I promised to make her dream come true and hired her as my PA. She moved from Iasi to Cluj and after 6 weeks cheekily asked me if she could have a little holiday in the UK. I could not refuse and when she came to the UK I happened to have two interview opportunities. I told the relevant Managers that I do not employ monkeys and that Elena was worthwhile interviewing. They reluctantly followed my advice and both Managers offered Elena a job necause they too recognised that she was talented. She now does a lot of court work for Thurrock; flies to Marrakech every six weeks or so where she has a Moroccan boyfriend. The last pic is Luciana a social worker from Bucharest.Luciana is a very good friend and earler this year she brought several mebers of her family to the UK for a visit. I met her Aunt who is from Cluj and works as an electrical supervisor on the Iulius Mall project here in Cluj and her cousin, Sorin, is regarded as the best geological engineer here in Cluj. So I hope these three stories - there are many more - back up your opinion that Romanians are highly educated and motivated to succeed! Regards Charles

Elena didnt upload so here she is. Another talented One.

Hi Alan Good points - it is hard to say why the eduction level in Romania is high (relative to GDP) and the key point is that 'it is'! In a way, I'm making comparisons to Spain. One of the reasons salaries are low in Spain (ave salary of 1,700 Euros per month vs 3,600 in UK) is because of the massive expansion in qualified people in the 25 to 35 year age group. This was partly driven by relatively high education standards during Franco's time - but also a boom in demand for education as people saw salvation and escape in studying. The key is that it has left Spain with a legacy - and will do the same in Romania. Cheers Neil ps. I agree that Spanish productivity is low - but so was the UK's productivity growth in the 90's. This appears to be how countries develop. I believe that you will see rapid increases in productivity in Spain in the coming years. pps. The Spanish are the hardest workers of wester Europe. 9am to 7pm days are typical for most people - and the Siesta time is rapidly becoming a sandwich at the desk! Sad, but true!