JSE-listed EPP successfully completed an equity raise of ZAR 1.45 billion equating to approximately €90 million. The Polish retail company will use the equity to fund tranche 2 of its M1 portfolio transaction. The company expects to complete tranche 2 of the M1 transaction by June of this year. The deal is expected to add an additional 184,000 sqm of retail GLA to EPP’s portfolio.

CTP continues its expansion in Romania. The developer plans to add another 200,000 sqm to its 1 million sqm local portfolio.

Total demand on Budapest’s industrial market amounted to 83,680 sqm in Q1 2019, marking a 19% decrease from the figure noted in the same period last year. The Budapest Research Forum published its quarterly industrial market analysis.

The Bucharest office closed Q1 2019 with decent numbers: a gross take-up of 105,000 sqm, out of which the net take-up was 29,000 sqm, and 93,000 sqm of deliveries. Data from Colliers International Romania show that the demand came mostly from IT&C companies, despite the tight labour market.

Fund management company Redside has completed the acquisition of an industrial building in Pilsen, Czech Republic, with a total lettable area of 25,000 square meters. The seller is the current occupier of the property, the Japanese cable maker Yazaki. The new owner has joined forces with Panattoni Europe, for further development.

Following the recent takeover of the Sugarmaker Palace, UBM Development is preparing another large project, namely the Astrid Garden multifunctional complex, consisting of two parts – Astrid Offices and Astrid Residences. In the first stage, a five-storey office building will be constructed, followed by a residential complex of about 110 units the sale of which will be launched in the third quarter of 2020. The architectural form was designed by Bogle Architects, emphasising not only the modern look, lightness and airiness, but also the sensitive setting in the typical character of Holešovice.

A fund managed by GLL Real Estate Partners has acquired Gatehouse Offices – an office building constructed by Echo Investment at Warsaw Brewery complex, with the space leased by such companies as L’Oréal Polska, WeWork, Epam Systems Poland and Sony Interactive Entertainment Polska. The parties signed a preliminary agreement in November last year.

Total demand in the first quarter of 2019 reached 79,980 sqm on Budapest’s office market, representing a 12.2% decrease year-on-year. New leases accounted for 45% of the total leasing activity, according to BRF’s latest figures.

Developers are revising their strategies. The convenience centre and mixed-use projects segment is growing. 2019 could see 430,000 sqm of new retail space in Poland. JLL summarised conditions on Poland's retail market at the end of Q1 2019.

A new report by Colliers International and international law firm CMS has revealed that Central and Eastern Europe may be facing a significant shortfall in student housing in the next 10 years. The firms’ third annual joint Real Estate report, ‘Student housing in CEE – the next big thing?’ looks at the evolution of the student housing sector in the core CEE-6 countries, and canvasses views from investors on the relevance of CEE student housing as an asset class and their expectations for the future.