In the first quarter of 2019, leasing activity hit 140,100 sqm on the Warsaw office market, of which more than 101,000 was transacted under new deals and expansions. Cushman & Wakefield summarised the Warsaw office market in Q1 2019.

JLL advised Atrium European Real Estate Limited in the disposal process of two Polish shopping centres, namely Atrium Felicity and Atrium Koszalin to the ECE European Prime Shopping Centre Fund II, managed by the independent fund managing company ECE Real Estate Partners. The parties signed on 9th May 2019 an agreement concerning the sale of both assets for €298 million, representing around 3% premium to book value as at 31 March 2019. The transaction is subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions precedent and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2019.

Kajima Student Housing Limited (KSH), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kajima Europe and part of Kajima Corporation, a Japanese real estate investment, development and construction company, has, in partnership with Griffin Real Estate Partners (GRE) acquired Student Depot, Poland’s largest provider of student accommodation, from Oaktree Capital Management.

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.

Poland's office market in Q1 2019 saw office supply growing, vacancy rates dropping comparing to the last year, and demand predominantly being driven by IT, services and manufacturing. Advisory firm JLL summarised the situation on the Polish office market at the end of Q1 2019.

According to the RICS Global Commercial Property Monitor (GCPM), 38% of respondents reported that climate risks are not important or irrelevant for investors. In addition, according to the Global Construction Survey (GCM), over a third, (36%) of respondents believe that though compared to two years ago, investor focus has shifted towards building designs that are energy efficient and carbon neutral, it is only limited to a few niche investors.

CTP will develop a new logistics park in Sibiu on an area of 9 hectares with an investment of €23 million.

Lidl has opened its first logistics centre in the eastern part of Romania, in the town of Roman, Neamt county.

The first building of the Green Heart complex in Belgrade has been officially opened. Nordeus, independent mobile gaming company based in Belgrade, chose GTC’s office centre to create their new studio. To accommodate a team of 170 people, the creator of competitive games leased 6,000 sqm across seven floors with three additional underground levels for parking.

Cushman & Wakefield has extended its exclusive affiliation with CBS International to enter the Croatian market, expanding its wide array of integrated property services to one of the youngest EU countries.