The valuation department of the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox has evaluated over 700 properties in 2017 with a cumulative value of €3.1 billion, while estimating an increase of 33% of the valuation volume, to the level of €4 billion during this year.

On June 5, 2018, Immochan becomes Ceetrus. A symbol of the transformation that the company has been going through for two years, this new name is meant to embody its evolution from a commercial real estate company to a mixed-use real estate developer.

HubHub, the co-working concept from international real estate developer HB Reavis, has announced the opening its first space in Hungary by the end of this year. The debuting brand will occupy a total area of 2,400 sqm at the well-known downtown hub, Király street. The new office is not only about state-of-the-art space, but education, the pooling of talent and community building will also be strong pillars of its presence.

In Q1 2018, Warsaw’s vacancy rate fell to its lowest in five years while absorption amounted to 45,000 sqm, down by nearly 30% on the average observed over the last five years, according to Cresa.

Political risk seems not to be affecting the performance of CEE markets. Members of the investment panel at the Portfolio-RICS Valuation & Investment 2018 conference in Budapest are confident about the future of the market and view industrial/logistics and retail as the most attractive asset classes.

Valuers are often listed among the professionals most likely to be affected by technology but few believe that all of their tasks can be done by robots. Stewart Thomson, Country Head for the Czech Republic at BNP Paribas Real Estate shared his expectations for the investment market and the future of the valuation business.

Richard Wilkinson is joining CTP as Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) effective 1 July 2018 and will be working closely with Robert Pitt, COO, and Remon Vos, CEO, to secure growth, increase market share and profitability.

Panattoni Europe is developing another warehouse facility for an e-commerce business. This time it is expondo Polska, which will take up 30,000 sqm at Panattoni Park Zielona Góra, currently under development. The tenant will be able to move into the complex already in the coming October.

Cushman & Wakefield has published a summary of the first quarter of 2018 on Poland’s regional office markets. Following the record-breaking performance in 2017, the total office stock of regional cities rose by 3% q/q by the end of Q1 2018 to 4.5 million sqm. The average vacancy rate for the regional markets was down 0.6 p.p. at 9.3%. The largest concentration of development activity is in Wrocław and Krakow.

NEPI Rockcastle, through its subsidiaries, has acquired Aura shopping centre in Olsztyn, Poland for €64.9 million and Ozas shopping centre in Vilnius, Lithuania for €124.6 million.