According to JLL, almost €900 million were invested into Romanian property in 2016, 35% more than in the previous year. 2016 has been a record breaking year at a country level all over CEE with the highest ever volumes recorded in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and second best ever results recorded in Poland, Hungary and the SEE region.

Nearly 100,000 sqm of new office space was delivered to the Budapest market in 2016, the highest figure since 2010. Meanwhile, demand picked up in the last quarter of the year with a large share of the total leasing volume made up of pre-leases and new transactions. At the same time, the office vacancy rate has returned to its downward trajectory, reaching 9.5%, the lowest rate on record.

TriGranit announced the appointment of Tamás Páldi, M.D. as Human Resources Director and Mr. Mariusz Domeracki as Finance Director for Poland. 

In Q4 2016 total leasing activity amounted to 133,460 sqm on the Budapest industrial market which marks a 64% rise on a yearly basis. Meanwhile, the vacancy rate reached a new post-crisis low at 8.1% and there is currently no scheme offering more than 10,000 sqm available adjacent space. The Budapest Research Forum published its quarterly industrial market analysis.

CA Immo has completed negotiations with Union Investment Real Estate GmbH on acquiring 49% of shares each in the office buildings Danube House in Prague and Building A of Infopark in Budapest, both so far part of the open-ended property fund UniImmo: Europe. The deal, which has already been closed, will make an immediate positive contribution to long-term profitability by around €3 million.

W Hotels Worldwide, part of Marriott International, announced an agreement with QPR Properties Kft, part of Constellation Hotels Holding Ltd., to debut the W Hotels brand in Hungary with the opening of W Budapest. Located on Andrássy Road, the hotel will be situated directly across from the State Opera House, businesswire.com reports.

CPI Property Group anticipates the acquisition of a retail portfolio located in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania from funds managed by CBRE Global Investors. If completed, this can become the largest real estate deal of the region in 2017.

Skanska invests €38 million in the first phase of Campus 6, an office complex in Bucharest, Romania. The first phase will offer a total leasable area of about 22,000 square meters on 11 stories above ground and two levels of underground parking.

Panattoni Europe will build another BTS facility for H&M. The distribution centre spanning over 30,000 sqm will be built in Grodzisk Mazowiecki – construction works are set to start in February 2017. The investment will be certified under the LEED system, aiming for the Silver rating level.

EPAM, an international company which is involved in the development of software and implementation of IT projects, has leased an office area of nearly 3,500 sqm in O3 Business Campus which is being developed by Echo Investment in Kraków. CBRE advised EPAM in the leasing process.