Investment in real estate projects amounted to about 800 million euros in Romania in 2006, a Romanian real estate consultant said on Friday.

A majority of investment centered around projects for office buildings, Mihai Plaesu, consultant with local real estate company DTZ Echinox, was quoted by the national Rompres news agency as saying.

The Year 2006 also saw a slight rise in office building rentals in the market. DTZ experts estimated that a total of 200,000 square meters were rented because of the entrance of some new companies, the expansion of existing ones and some mergers on the market, especially in the IT and pharmaceutical field.

More foreign companies would now come to Romania after the country's acceptance as a member of the European Union on Jan. 1, Plaesu added.

Office spaces in Romania to be rented totaled 750,000 square meters in 2006, which increased by 25 percent over 2005.

The vacancy rate of office buildings is currently below 3 percent, and more than 30 percent of the estimated stock have been rented in advance for 2007, said Plaesu.

Source: Xinhua