Meanwhile, deals with real estate projects totaled €750 mln in 2007, mostly for office buildings.

Raiffeisen Evolution was top land buyer, with a €90 million deal involving 11 hectares of land in northern Bucharest. The plot was purchased from Romania’s largest company, Petrom.

Israeli developer AFI Europe purchased 15.5 hectares of the Laromet industrial platform, in north-western Bucharest, for €77.5 mln, in the second-largest deal registered in 2007. Israeli company Rosebud Medical ranks third, with a payment of €72.9 million for 6 hectares in northern Bucharest, while the fourth-largest deal involved mall developer Belrom, which purchased 9 hectares in eastern Bucharest, for €60 mln. The same amount was paid by Austrian company Real4you for 7 hectares, also in the eastern area of the capital.

“Investors are mainly targeting small [adjoining] plots to create larger areas, especially in the northern and western areas of Bucharest, where large residential and industrial projects have been built,” the study writes.

Last year, the prices of land for residential and office projects in central areas rose some 15-20 percent, according to real estate specialists.