Romania and Bulgaria remain attractive to foreign investors despite increasingly expensive assets in both countries, the Rompres news agency reported on Friday.

During the two countries' preparations to join the European Union over the past half a decade, the prices of their assets have increased up to five times, the report said, citing local and international analysts.

As both countries are now safely in the club to which they brought 30 million people, investors have started asking themselves whether it is time to start looking for greener pastures, it added.

Kingsmill Bond, from the strategy department of Deutsche Bank, said the prices of assets in Romania and Bulgaria already contained the benefits of the EU accession.

"These two markets are now among the most expensive emerging states in the world," he said.

Despite accelerated economic growth, some analysts remained worried that Romania might be confronted with difficulties due to the advance of its current account deficit to almost 10 percent of the gross domestic product.

"All the usual warning signals are present. The crediting level is increasing too fast and on the real estate and assets market we can see bubbles. The question is if there will be something that will reverse the trend," director of Fitch Ratings Richard Fox said.

On the other hand, Tero Halmari, from the real estate company Equest Investments, said short term profits were no longer possible in the region.

"Everybody is worried about overheating and that is why investors should be cautious because the increase is not linear, regarding profits. There is an enormous potential if we look ahead, in five to 10 years," said Halmari.

Cristian Parvan, the general secretary of the Businessman's Association of Romania, said foreign investments would continue to happen in Romania as the country was one of the most profitable countries in the region.

"Romania offers a profit rate three times larger than any of its neighbors and many of the foreign investors that are already here have tripled their profits," he said.

Source: Xinhua