One of the leading investment advisors of the region is seeing increased activity in Slovakia and Romania and expects further yield compression on these markets. Mike Atwell, Head of Capital Markets CEE and Czech Republic at JLL shared his thoughts on new investments, changing market trends and technology.

Investment fund Focus Estate Fund has set the goal to expand the geography of its presence in Central and Eastern Europe. In the next two years, the Fund plans to more than double its portfolio by strengthening its position in the niche of medium-sized commercial real estate in Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as by entering the Slovak market.

GTC Serbia opened Ada Mall, its first shopping centre in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the only latest-generation shopping centre in the Serbian capital and covers an area of over 34,000 sqm. This extraordinary shopping mall was designed to provide its visitors with a unique Belgradian shopping experience.

Panattoni Europe has embarked on the construction of Panattoni Park Zabrze with planned space of 64,200 sqm. The distribution centre is being built in a historic industrial part of the city, and has already secured its first tenants. They are – a beer producer set to take up 5,400 sqm and Ban-Food, a logistics operator with 2,200 sqm. The first 20,000 sqm will be available already this autumn.

At the end of Q1 2019, the total modern Class A industrial stock in the Czech Republic stood at 7.97 million sqm. In the first three months of 2019, the Prague industrial market has exceeded the magical milestone of 3 million sqm, confirming its position as the largest industrial market in the country, followed by the Pilsen and South Moravian markets, according to JLL:

Modesta Real Estate continues to be the exclusive broker for lettings in Westend Tower, Bratislava. The company successfully arranged office space for a large number of companies over the past few months. In addition to many new contracts, the leases of some major companies have recently been extended. These include international companies such as Kovintrade and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Adamed.

Romania is the fifth most attractive manufacturing market in Europe and was ranked 12th globally, according to the Manufacturing Risk Index 2019 study, conducted by the Cushman & Wakefield.

According to the RICS Commercial Property Monitor, Hungary has the strongest occupier sentiment and the Czech Republic has the strongest investment sentiment among the 40 countries surveyed in Q1 2019. Market expectations remained fairly positive across Central and Eastern Europe in the first quarter of the year, with the share of those stating that we have reached the peak of current property cycle decreasing compared to previous quarters.

Prominent investors, developers, advisors and other professionals discussed how technology and climate change are rewriting the rules of the real estate game at the RICS’s latest global summit. Here are our key takeaways from the RICS World Built Environment Forum, organized in New York this May.

Property Forum and RICS are organizing Prague Property Forum for the third time this year. Just like in previous years, leading decision makers in real estate will come together in Prague to discuss the future of our industry. CEOs, influential investors, bankers, developers, fast-growing proptech start-up founders, architects and valuers will analyse the potential of the Czech property market from a global perspective, providing an excellent networking opportunity.