With the economic performance of countries in the region being better than expected, due to the general positive mood an increasing number of investors have been prompted to launch new projects, so much so that on a regional level, the expected expansion of the office market supply will exceed demand. The extent of new supply is expected to slow down the growth of rental fees, in fact, it may lead to their decrease in certain markets over the next three years. The Central European markets with the best performances will probably be Prague and Budapest.

Impressive turnover growth, increasing retailer demand and lack of new supply push rents up in Budapest retail market according to the new Hungarian Retail Market Report of CBRE global property advisor.

IMMOFINANZ, one of the principal real estate investors in Romania and the leading office building owner in Bucharest, announces several new partnerships and extensions of agreements with tenants in the local office sector, accounting for a total of over 21,000 sqm. The company has prolonged and extended existing contracts for over 19,000 sqm and has attracted new tenants for about 2,400 sqm in five of its class A office properties in Bucharest.

Which regional country presents the best opportunities for developers currently? Which market can be the best choice for investors? Which countries have a more challenging road ahead of them? These are the questions that regional real estate professionals tried to answer for us ahead of our CEE Property Forum 2015 conference in Vienna.

Would you have thought that many well know luxury brands have opened stores in Tirana before entering Budapest? This is especially interesting considering the fact that Hungary has a retail stock of 1.3 million square metres compared to 205 thousand square metres in Albania. Through our questions, Stela Dhami, Managing Partner at Colliers International Albania is introducing the property market of a country that is usually off the radar.

The RICS Commercial Property Monitor for Q2 2015 showed that most countries in Central and Eastern Europe have good growth prospects and the expectations for commercial property markets have further improved. Both, the Occupier Sentiment Index and the Investment Sentiment Index stands in positive territory in all four examined countries.

The European industrial and logistics market experienced record levels of investment in Q2 2015 with the total volume reaching €6.1 billion, reports the latest analysis of CBRE. Investors are concentrating their capital on north Western Europe, and particular favour lies with the UK market which accounted for 40% of the total volume. Germany, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and Spain also reported strong quarterly figures.

Europe’s prime office market vacancy rate is expected to fall back to its 2009 level by the end of 2016 and then to continue declining over the rest of the decade, according to global real estate advisor, CBRE. In Europe’s major cities, office development is not keeping pace with growing demand driven by improving employment trends and almost all key office markets are expected to show falling vacancy rates and accelerated rental growth over the next five years.

Industrial real estate company Prologis has announced the signing of two lease extensions totalling more than 26,000 square metres and an 8,000-sqm area expansion in its parks in the Prague region.

Rents on the Budapest office market are set to rise according to Cushman & Wakefield, involved with leasing more space than any other agent in the market. The continued recovery is driven by sound economic, demand and supply fundamentals.