Even though all figures available as well as market sentiment point to further growth on the Hungarian commercial property market, its players still keep looking over their shoulders for potential threats to this growth. According to the speakers of the Portfolio - RICS Valuation and Investment 2017 conference, global politics and potentially rising interest rates pose the biggest threat for CEE. We report from Budapest. 

Immofinanz rented approx. 80,000 sqm of office space in Bucharest during the abbreviated 2016 financial year. That represents more than 40% of the total standing office portfolio in Romania. These transactions are expected to increase the occupancy rate in the office sector in Romania from roughly 88% to more than 94%. New rentals and expansions accounted for roughly 47,000 sqm or 60% of the rented space, while the remainder represents contract extensions. 

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, Helaba and ING Bank have jointly underwritten an increase to an investment facility, totalling €67 million, to refinance Focus Mall Zielona Gora in Poland. This facility is in addition to a €164 million facility granted by the same banking consortium in 2016, for the Karolinka, Pogoria and Platan Shopping Centres in Poland. The assets are owned by Rockcastle Global Real Estate Company Limited. The transaction closed in February 2017. 

Warsaw office building Wspólna 47/49 has been awarded a BREEAM IN-USE International certificate. It received an “Excellent” rating in Asset Performance and a “Very Good” rating in Building Management. The scheme is owned by CA Immo and Cushman & Wakefield is the property manager.

Colliers International announced that Luke Dawson has returned to Colliers International, effective immediately, in the role of Managing Director & Head of Capital Markets for Central & Eastern Europe (CEE).

JLL has appointed Silviana Petre Badea as Managing Director of its Romanian business, based in Bucharest, with effect from 1 March 2017.

At end-2016, Poland’s total stock of modern shopping centres, including retail parks and outlet centres, reached 11.2 million sqm of GLA across 479 retail schemes. The Polish Retail Research Forum (PRRF) has summarized the retail market in Poland in H2 2016. 

Savills has appointed Ben Maudling to head up its Czech Republic and Slovakia operations, in order to support the company’s continued expansion across Central Eastern Europe (CEE). 

P3 has completed the first two warehouses at P3 Prague D11, developed partly on a Build-to-Suit basis for Exiteria and FM Logistic, comprising a total of 60,000 sqm. The warehouses are among the largest buildings planned for the park and account for over a third of its total size.  The rest of the site can accommodate eight further warehouses ranging from 3,000 sqm to 26,000 sqm. After completion, P3 Prague D11 will provide a total of 155,000 sqm.

The Rezidor Hotel Group, a member of international Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, has announced the signing of the first Radisson RED in the Central Europe. The newly built Radisson RED Krakow is expected to be completed by fall of 2019.