Expect retail to regain popularity as an asset class especially in tourism-led locations, Colliers International said at MIPIM 2019. Whilst logistics has benefited from the growth in e-retailing, there are signs that is has hit maximum penetration across Europe. In the meantime, pure-play retailers are resorting to omni-channel strategies to survive and deliver profits. This has put the onus back on the need for retail space supported by modern logistic facilities.

Cushman & Wakefield Echinox was appointed to manage One Victoriei Center office building in Bucharest (former Bucharest Corporate Center), a representative business centre located in the business centre area of the Capital (CBD).

BNP Paribas Real Estate has been mandated by Immofinanz to provide property management services as of January 2019 in respect of approximately 160 000 sqm of the Hungarian office portfolio owned by Immofinanz.

Cushman & Wakefield assisted Generali Real Estate in the acquisition of Palác Špork, a unique scheme in Prague 1. The seller is SEBRE, a.s. The price remains undisclosed. The agreement was signed on 11 March.

Spaceti, the Czech startup that provides an integrated suite of data analytics, smart sensors, and mobile user interfaces to optimise the use of office spaces and increase productivity and the wellbeing of people in buildings, was named the world’s top property technology (proptech) company at the MIPIM Startup Competition in Cannes.

Investment market momentum is still firmly positive across Central and Eastern Europe but an increasing share of market players feel that commercial property has become expensive in the countries surveyed by the RICS Commercial Property Monitor. Although the majority of the survey’s contributors believe that the market is in the peak phase of the property cycle, growth is set to continue in the coming year.

Money from East Asia burst on to the CEE scene in 2016-17, mainly via large industrial sector portfolio deals. The industrial sector received the majority of 2018’s flow as well, though diversification via larger single asset deals is beginning to occur. Asian investors appear to need liquidity: looking by CEE-6 destination, Poland presently dominates.

International architectural firm BIG founded unveiled its plans for Towarowa 22, a 230,000 sqm mixed-use development in Warsaw’s Wola district at MIPIM. The owners of the project are EPP and Echo Investment

There is a growing global war chest of capital for real estate, with institutional investors looking to increase their real estate allocations and new sources of capital emerging, according to Colliers International’s latest report. Increasing allocations to real estate from global institutions reached at least $840 billion in 2018, adding to the $370 billion in closed-end funds waiting to be deployed to real estate in 2019.

Real estate transaction volumes in 2018 were the strongest on record reaching US$1.75 trillion; a 4% year-on-year (y/y) growth and surpassing previous highs of US$1.68 trillion in 2017, according to new data from global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.