The office vacancy rate in Budapest increased to 13.2%, representing a 0.6 pps growth quarter-on-quarter and a 2.2 pps increase year-on-year. Two smaller buildings have been handed over while the demand has increased by 14% compared to the previous quarter, the Budapest Research Forum (BRF) reports.

Property developer Finep has sold a house with rental apartments in Prague 9 to Mint's residential fund. The former Veltex building in Poděbradská Street is expected to bring mainly small apartments to the rental housing market within about two years. According to the daily e15.cz, the transaction is worth almost CZK 1 billion (around €40 million). 

Duda Development has sold a Silesian retail park portfolio to a private investor. Avison Young represented the purchaser. The price has not been disclosed.

According to a survey conducted by Savills involving real estate investors with total Europe and Middle East assets under management (AuM) exceeding €500 billion, almost a third of investors are looking to adopt a more aggressive, value-added investment strategy over the next 12 months. This is up from 14% on last year’s survey, with only 28% expecting to deploy a more defensive strategy over the next 12 months, down from 55% last year.

Czech developer Contera has opened Organica office building in Ostrava. The grand opening was attended by representatives of the main client, the Scandinavian company Tietoevry, as well as the Mayor of Ostrava and the Governor of the Moravian-Silesian Region. 

Roughly 280 apartments, but also new amenities. These are the two basic parameters of the R66 multifunctional complex from development company Corwin. The company has built and managed the Guthaus project in its neighbourhood on Račianska Street. Only a few tens of meters towards Rača, it also owns a large area of the former Palma factory, where a new local centre should be built.

The warehouse sector in the CEE region, although experiencing temporary problems, retains its attractiveness. The directions of its further development may vary depending on the location - this is how the panel discussion  „Full speed ahead – What's driving logistics developments?” could be summarised in brief. It was a part of the CEE Property Forum 2023 conference, which was held in September in Vienna by Property Forum.  

iO Partners, JLL Preferred Partner, continues to strengthen its cross-border capabilities in Central and East Europe with a new regional structure to support its market leading Industrial & Logistics business.

Romania attracted around €1.2 billion worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) from real estate and construction companies during 2022, accounting for 17.2% of the total investment volume recorded in the country, according to central bank data analyzed by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

The condition of the housing markets in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia remains good, but high interest rates have reduced the availability of mortgages, which has affected the demand for flats. Poland has broken out of this pattern, where, despite high financing costs, developers are breaking sales records. However, all these countries have one thing in common - the low activity of players in the PRS market, whose offer could be an effective response to the low creditworthiness of buyers. These are just some of the conclusions reached by the participants of the residential panel at CEE Property Forum 2023, which was organised in Vienna in September.