Governments worldwide have been gradually forging greater transparency in real estate markets, addressing growing demands from investors and the public to deliver significant change. JLL’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index reports slow but steady progress driven by increased regulations and new technology.

NEPI Rockcastle announced that, through its subsidiary NRP Shopping Centre Project Two s.r.o., it has signed a binding agreement to acquire 100% of the shares in MLYNY, a.s., being the owner of Galeria Mlyny shopping centre in the city of Nitra in Slovakia from a group of local investors. The aggregate purchase price for Galeria Mlyny was €121.8 million.

Colliers International Romania advised on the sale of Maestro Business Center office building in Cluj-Napoca, one of Romania’s most important regional cities. The acquisition made by First Property Group, a UK investment fund, favors the opening of a new investment market in Cluj-Napoca.

AFI Europe Romania finalised the acquisition of a land plot in Bucharest, in the proximity of AFI Park 1-5 and AFI Cotroceni shopping mall, with a surface of approximately 43,000 sqm, in a transaction worth €23 million.

Panattoni Europe nears the finish line with the launch of its fourth logistics centre in Tricity. Panattoni Park Gdańsk IV, with 41,500 sqm planned at full build-out, is only 4 km away from the Port of Gdańsk and the deep-water container terminal DCT Gdańsk, and the first tenants will be able to move into it already in the coming August.

With the purchase of the Visionary office building in Prague, CA Immo and Skanska have successfully signed and closed the second transaction between the two companies in the CEE region in 2018. The gross transaction volume is approx. €68 million.

H&M Romania has leased 1,000 square meters in Unirii View, a 73-meter tall office building in the centre of Bucharest. The fashion retailer will take up a superior floor within Unirii View.

One of the most active industrial and logistics developers of the region has announced major expansion plans for Hungary this year. CTP hopes to increase the value of its Hungarian portfolio to €320 million by the end of 2018 from the current €250 million. Rudolf Nemes, CTP’s Country Manager for Hungary talked about changing tenant needs and challenges on the labour market.

From July onwards, entrepreneurs in Poland will decide whether to apply the split payment mechanism (SPM). As announced by the Polish Ministry of Finance, entities making split payments will be considered to be entrepreneurs of strong commercial integrity and business professionalism. Experts of Cresa Poland and tax specialists of Crido Taxand say whether it advisable to make use of the new regulations in their joint review “Commercial Real Estate Tax & Business Digest”.

The amount of office space currently under development in Prague is higher than ever. 136,000 sqm was completed in 2017 and an additional 165,000 sqm of modern office space should be delivered to the market in 2018. This is the highest development rate since 2008. Despite that, the vacancy rate has dropped to a record low of 6.2 per cent. This is a year-on-year decrease of more than 3 percentage points. This should change, however, with seven new office buildings due to be completed this year, according to Cushman & Wakefield.