The Czech Republic has one of the longest and most complicated building procedures in the world and is ranked 156 out of 190 countries observed by The World Bank. Fortunately for real estate developers, the situation is slowly changing. Erwin Hanslik MRICS, Partner and CEE Head of Real Estate at Taylor Wessing talked to us about the legal and regulatory challenges investors and developers need to face in the Czech Republic.

Digitizing commercial property provides endless new opportunities for owners and managers of large property portfolios. No one knows this better than Dr. Robert Herman MRICS, who left Hungary three years ago to start a tech company in California. He talked to us about the importance of technology in the property business and his new role as a member of the RICS in the Americas Board.

According to one of CEE’s most active developers, tenants in recent years have become more open to innovative and sustainable solutions when it comes to renting retail or office spaces. Tibor Tatár, CEO of Futureal talked to Property Forum about the company’s current projects and changing tenant expectations. Tibor Tatár will be joining a panel on the Hungarian property market at our upcoming CEE Property Forum 2019 in Vienna.

As we are nearing the end of the cycle and investors are looking to diversify their portfolios, student housing’s counter-cyclical nature is becoming increasingly attractive. Samuel Vetrak, CEO of Bonard, talked to Property Forum about recent developments on the European student housing market. Samuel will also chair a panel discussion on student housing at the upcoming CEE Property Forum 2019 in Vienna.

Labour shortage and rising costs in construction are problems developers in CEE have had to learn to live with over the past years. Dr. Zoltán Nádasdy MRICS, Partner, Head of CEE Real Estate Investments Group at Noerr talked to Property Forum about the legal challenges investors and developers face on the Hungarian, Romanian and Polish markets.

The retail sector has been heavily affected by the changes brought on by technology. Solutions such as indoor localization provide limitless opportunities for retailers wanting to stay ahead of the competition. Oren Rosen, Co-Founder of Israeli startup Infuse Location Ltd talked to Property Forum about the changing shopping experience.

Although the results of this year’s first quarter have been weaker than expected on the CEE investment market, this does not automatically mean than a slowdown has started. Andy Thompson MRICS, Head of Investment Czech Republic & Slovakia at Colliers International shared his market expectations with Property Forum.

One of the leading investment advisors of the region is seeing increased activity in Slovakia and Romania and expects further yield compression on these markets. Mike Atwell, Head of Capital Markets CEE and Czech Republic at JLL shared his thoughts on new investments, changing market trends and technology.

The Czech property investment market continues to post solid figures in an environment that is increasingly less bullish. One of the leading local players believes that a downturn of the current property cycle will eventually come from a major outside macro shock and before this happens, the Czech commercial property sector will keep showing positive figures. Tomáš Jandík, CFA, MRICS, REICO’s Chief Investment Officer shared his market expectations with Property Forum.

It is inevitable that the amount of capital invested in PropTech will increase in 2019 compared to the previous year. As property markets around the world are becoming more educated there is also more international cooperation on the horizon. James Dearsley and Eddie Holmes, the co-founders of global proptech platform Unissu.com talked to Property Forum about the global status of proptech in 2019 and the aims of their new venture.