ESG considerations play an increasingly important role in investment, financing and location decisions across the real estate industry. Four Colliers experts talked to Property Forum to discuss the role of sustainability in the post-COVID-19 world.

Anna Duchnowska, Head of Asset Management Europe at Invesco Real Estate talked to Property Forum about investing in property in the times of pandemic, the new segmentation of the real estate market and likely changes in financing conditions.

For many market players, 2020 was a year in which investment plans were changed to keep more liquidity in the company. Mihai Zaharia, Head of Investments Romania and Group Capital Markets Director at Globalworth, tells us about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the investment market but also about the future of the Romanian and Polish markets.

The pandemic has affected all economic sectors, and the real estate market is no exception. However, Skanska Romania ended the first year of the pandemic with the sale of two buildings in the Campus 6 project in Bucharest for €97 million, one of the largest transactions on the market. Aurelia Luca, EVP Operations Hungary and Romania at Skanska talked to Property Forum about the company's operations in Romania.

Any investor who observes the real estate market right now is likely to start with warehouse assets. This trend has already been visible, but the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated it to an astonishing degree, says Robert Dobrzycki, Chief Executive Officer of Panattoni who talked to Property Forum about the driving forces behind the growth of the warehouse market.

Polish company Scallier is developing a new chain of retail parks in Romania under the Funshop Park brand with the first three expected to open this year. Wojciech Jurga, Managing Partner at Scallier provided an update on the company’s development plans and talked about the differences between the Polish and Romanian markets.

2020 was a channelling year for investors and asset managers but also a chance to lay a new foundation for tenant relationships. Vladimír Bolek, Portfolio Management, Member of the Board at IAD Investments talked to Property Forum about the effects of the pandemic and shared his investment strategy for 2021.

Czech developer Crestyl Group is the process of developing a number of large-scale mixed-use projects in the capital and beyond. Omar Koleilat, CEO of the company talked to Property Forum about Crestyl’s development plans and shared his expectations for the Czech investment market in 2021.

Katowice-based real estate developer DL Invest Group, which has managed to build a significant portfolio of office, retail and logistics assets across Poland, sees further growth potential in all three major asset classes. Dominik Leszczyński, Founder and CEO of DL Invest Group shared his expansion strategy for the coming years with Property Forum.

Nikodem Iskra, CEO of Murapol, one of the largest residential developers in Poland, believes that in 2021 the residential market will shake off the effects of the pandemic. He foresees further increases of apartment prices – in his opinion record-low interest rates are not only stimulating the mortgage market, but are also a strong impulse for investment activity