Park Atrium – one of the most recognisable Budapest office buildings, leased to Deloitte, ING and Roche - was sold last week. German-based Asset Manager Corpus Sireo - on behalf of one of their managed accounts - has purchased the building from Accession Fund managed by GLL Real Estate Partners for an undisclosed price believed to be in excess of €50 million.

In the last quarter alone South African investors have spent €1 billion in CEE and it is most likely that they won’t stop chasing higher yields anytime soon. Even though investments in Central and Eastern Europe are generally considered risky by European standards, coming from other parts of the world opportunities in the region may seem rather safe. We report from CEE Property Forum 2016, co-organised by Portfolio Property Forum and RICS, where over 300 visitors and 70 speakers came together to discuss the most pressing issues concerning regional investment markets.

The Polish branch of Berner, a European direct seller, has signed a lease for more than 2,900 sqm of warehouse and office space in Panattoni Park Kraków III. The developer Panattoni was represented by Cushman & Wakefield.

The European industrial and logistics investment market experienced a record breaking H1 investment volume this year, despite a slower Q2. In Hungary, the vacancy rate slipped to 6.6%, and developers’ activity is on the rise according to the latest research data of CBRE.

BP has announced that it will be opening a new Global Business Services (GBS) centre in Szeged, Hungary, employing up to 500 people (subject to consultation) there by 2020. 

Altium, an Australian owned international IT company, will launch its first office in Poland. The company has selected Silesia Business Park office complex in Katowice for its Poland-based operations. Altium has leased nearly 770 sqm of office space in the complex developed by Skanska Property Poland.

Prologis has begun the development of an 11,720 sqm speculative distribution facility at Prologis Park Prague-Airport in response to high customer demand, which has resulted in the park being fully let.

Last year there has been a significant increase of interest from investors for logistics properties and properties for development, which signals the emergence of the automotive and e-commerce industry as well as the start of large-scale real estate developments – says DLA Piper’s annual Hungarian Real Estate Intelligence Report. According to DLA Piper, the increased acquisition activity from developers will translate into new commercial assets being introduced into the market around 2017 Q4 and 2018 Q1.

TriGranit has completed the sale of Bonarka City Center (BCC) in Krakow to Rockcastle, a property company specializing in retail centres in Central and Eastern Europe. TriGranit, which is owned by TPG Real Estate and was the developer of the shopping centre, will remain the property manager for two years. In addition to managing BCC, TriGranit will remain active in Krakow and is currently developing three office buildings in the ‘Bonarka for Business’ (B4B) area.

Panattoni Europe has announced the lease of three warehouse facilities totalling 42,526 sqm by Raben Logistics Polska. The investment will be carried out at Panattoni Park Grodzisk III. The developer has also recently started the construction of a BTS logistics centre for Sanden Manufacturing Poland in Polkowice, comprising approx. 6,500 sqm.