According to a report published by Newmark Polska, the Warsaw office market has entered a period of stabilization, with development activity continuing at a moderate but steady pace. During the second quarter of 2024, the Polish capital’s vacancy rate edged down over the quarter, while more and more tenants chose to renegotiate leases. Meanwhile, the growing occupier demand for sustainable and high-tech offices led to an increase in refurbishment or repurposing projects.

The office leasing volume closed in H1 2024 grew by 0.2% compared to the same period of last year, with Bucharest seeing the biggest activity, followed by Cluj-Napoca and Timișoara, according to a report by Fortim Trusted Advisors.

Panattoni is constructing a Built To Own (BTO) manufacturing centre for Compal. Electronic components for the automotive industry are to be produced in a factory that is under construction in Czeladź (southern Poland). 

Romanian developer One United Properties has announced the contracting of a €20 million increase in the financing obtained in 2021 for the development of One Cotroceni Park Office Phases 1 and Phase 2. The financing increase was backed by BCR and BRD and will be used to reimburse shareholder loans and cover other costs related to the credit facility increase transaction. 

According to the monitored data and analysis of the real estate market by BuiltMind, the demand for new apartments in Prague has continued to grow in Q2 2024. Compared to Q2 2023, there is an increase of more than 67%.

Vlad Musteață, CEO of North Bucharest Investments, spoke to Property Forum about the outlook for the residential market in the north of Bucharest, as well as the agency’s accelerated sales growth over the past two years.

Zeitgeist Asset Management has launched renting apartments and studios in the newly completed Delta Hagibor Residence on the border of Vinohrady, Strašnice and Žižkov in Prague. Invesco Real Estate owns the project and Zeitgeist has been given the mandate for its complete leasing and management.

The average flat size in Poland is 21 sqm smaller than the EU average and the overcrowding rate is nearly 20 percentage points higher, says Cushman & Wakefield in its latest report. It is therefore no wonder that despite increasingly prohibitive prices, housing demand continues to grow, thereby fuelling demand for mortgages. According to BIK data, June 2024 saw an almost 52% year-on-year increase in mortgage enquiries, with this growth also driven by interest rate cuts - the first since 2021. It would take Polish people wanting to buy a dream home several years to save up enough for a 20% mortgage deposit. Unfortunately, Cushman & Wakefield’s forecasts indicate that price growth is unlikely to ease to give Polish consumers some respite. Contrary to intentions, factors that are likely to add to their disadvantage include a new governmental support scheme and constrained land availability.  

A consortium of Santander Bank Polska and Bank Pekao S.A. granted AFI Europe and Echo Investment a construction and investment loan of €103.4 million and a VAT loan of PLN 20 million. The loan will finance the development of Office House, the first phase of the multifunctional Towarowa 22 project. It will be completed in the spring of 2025.

Maistra Hospitality Group, Croatia's second-largest tourism player, has obtained a blue and green sustainability-linked loan of up to €200 million, from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), as part of its strategy to boost sustainability operations.