Bucharest is down five places this year on last year's ranking in the European Cities Monitor by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield. The Romanian Capital city ranks second to last, on the 35th position, being followed only by Athens. The top takes into account companies' preferences on European cities where they could expand, looking at several criteria, among which the cost of staff.

Bucharest has also lost its leadership position on cost of staff. The Romanian capital city ranks fifth in terms of cost of staff, after being first on this criteria last year. Warsaw was perceived as the best city in terms of staff costs. Bratislava, Lisbon and Istanbul were also ahead of Bucharest from the workforce cost point of view.

The Romanian city has also moved out of the top 10 best cities in terms of the climate governments create.

London, Paris, Frankfurt, Brussels and Barcelona are the top five cities in the top, a similar ranking to last year's.

The top four factors remain some way ahead in terms of their importance. Easy access to markets, customers or clients remains the most essential factor for the second year running. Availability of quality staff is the second most essential factor, closely followed by Quality of telecommunications which edges further ahead of Transport links with other cities and internationally.

The report was created based on answers from 500 companies. 36 cities were included in the top.

romania-insider.com