Originally Posted by rorenter

I moved to Bucharest March last year and signed a rental agreement, paying 500 euros a month, at the time and considering I just moved here having never been here before, didn't realise how silly that was. I earn a wage in sterling, and rental and indeed property it would seem is all in euros, despite the country having their own currency, LEI.

500 euros remains 500 euros but a year later in sterling value, rent has gone up £36 a month although I don't tell the landlord that and pay a figure somewhere in between as I still pay in LEI. The LEI to sterling has only increased £6 a month.

Does anyone know why they tie their market to the euro, it seems silly if they themselves get paid in lei but I know some get paid in euro now, if they get paid in lei, then they too, pay more for rent in euros. My query is this, will it stabilise, can further increases in euro to lei ruin their economy or just remain bouyant, as a renter I'm a little concerned, the only alternative is to charge euros as landlord to uk tennant but that probably won't work... that way I'd benefit from euro being strong against sterling.

February 2008 and March 2007 underneath

500.00 EUR = 376.425 GBP
1 EUR = 0.752849 GBP 1 GBP = 1.32829 EUR

0.68 (£340) / 1.47

500.00 EUR = 1,835.51 RON
1 EUR = 3.67102 RON 1 RON = 0.272403 EUR

3.36 (1680) / 0.29

340.00 GBP = 1,658.75 RON
1 GBP = 4.87868 RON 1 RON = 0.204974 GBP

4.95 (1683) / 0.20

340.00 GBP = 451.729 EUR
1 GBP = 1.32861 EUR 1 EUR = 0.752664 GBP

0.68 (499.80) / 1.47

Seeing how much I pay on rent and having the house in the UK, I am now considering buying an house here, one question would be, should I open a euro account or lei account or both considering my income is in sterling and if I wish to obtain a line of credit or mortgage, a bank account now might be a good idea.

What are people's views on the above and how do you view the euro property market in Romania when positioned against LEI, are the increases viable and is it just me as an Englishman being paid in sterling seeing my rent increase £36 a month year on year. As you can tell, it's confusing me. They say the property prices in Bucharest are exagerated and inflated but then they say the same of the UK also and look how many years growth lasted there.