After the extremely difficult year of 2022, the Ukranian retail market has finally managed to improve its performance. Having talked to key market players about trends, tendencies and forecasts, Iryna Nastych summarised the situation in an article prepared by the Ukrainian Real Estate Club for Property Forum.

Czech investment company Fidurock is expanding its portfolio. The latest acquisition, which took place in Trutnov, concerns one of the largest retail parks in the Czech Republic. According to idnes.cz, representatives of the investment holding company signed an agreement on the sale of Retail Park Trutnov with representatives of the Czech Real Estate Investment Fund at the end of June. The price of the transaction was not disclosed.

Bulgaria's retail sector has displayed resilience and growth in Q2 2023, with positive economic indicators, aggressive retail park expansion, and stable pricing trends. Despite challenges faced by CEE countries, Bulgaria's economy is on a positive trajectory, setting the stage for a promising retail landscape. These are the highlights of Cushman & Wakefield/Forton's latest retail market report.

Strategic joint ventures and sale and leaseback deals are some of the emerging structures that are gaining ground in the commercial real estate investment industry in the EMEA, shows a Colliers report.

At the beginning of August, ibis Styles Warszawa Airport with 124 rooms was launched in Warsaw, replacing Holiday Inn Express Airport opened in 2012 in the Poleczki Park complex with six office buildings. It is the 19th facility under the ibis Styles brand in Poland. The hotel is managed by the Accor network.

Cătălin Rotaru, CEO of Romanian company THETA Furniture & More, spoke to Property Forum about the company’s expansion strategy in the healthcare, HoReCa and education segments, as well as the competitive advantages of operating a custom-made furniture factory in Romania.

The neglected premises south of the National Bank of Slovakia building should soon change. A new development has been in the pipeline since 2018. Originally, the developer was Penta Real Estate. At the beginning of 2022, however, the plans in the locality were transferred to the portfolio of the new company Alto Real Estate, which was created by splitting off from Penta, yimba.sk reports.

Barbara Topolska, Country Manager for Poland at CPI Property Group has talked to Property Forum about the acquisition of Immofinanz, ESG contributions and the current financing conditions.

Czech real estate fund Investika's latest acquisition is the Royal Trakt Offices building in Warsaw. The roughly 150-year-old property in the centre of the capital city was bought by the fund from global real estate investor Patrizia SE. The acquisition was announced to Property Forum by Linklaters, the law firm that advised the real estate fund Investika during the acquisition. No further details of the transaction have been disclosed yet.

In the first two quarters of 2023, the volume of investment in the Polish real estate market was about €870 million. This result is 70% lower than the first half of 2022, when the Warsaw Hub office complex was sold for a record price. Investment in the warehouse sector accounted for more than half of the volume for H1 2023, with a total turnover of €438 million. Although this result represented a decrease of 34% compared to the first half of 2022, it was still higher than the 10-year average of €425 million, says JLL.