Higher borrowing costs and the price gap between buyers' and sellers' expectations are some of the reasons why transaction volumes are significantly below the 10-year average level of ca. €10 billion. This is according to a commercial real estate investment volumes survey by Colliers presented at a February meeting of Czech and Slovak investors and other financial experts.

Residential transactions in Bucharest fell by 17% in 2023 versus the previous year, while in neighbouring Ilfov County the volume of deals rose by 6% over smaller prices of homes, according to a iO Partners report.

IAD's Prvý realitný fond real estate fund has acquired through its real estate company Logis Rugvica d.o.o. a plot of land intended for development in the Sveta Helena area, near the Croatian capital Zagreb. With this project, Prvý realitný fond is successfully starting its activities on the Croatian market.

Romania’s retail stock is set to expand by around 90,000 sqm in 2024, of which more than half will be based in Pitești-based Argeș Mall. However, the development pipeline is strong for the 2025-2028 period, with a few large and dominant shopping centres expected to add several hundred thousands of leasable space to the local market, according to Colliers data.

CTP has expanded the Polish capital’s warehouse market by more than 67,000 sqm through the delivery of two new buildings at CTPark Warsaw South. This completion means the industrial and logistics complex in Mszczonów, near Warsaw, is now almost 90 per cent complete.

In 2023, on Poland’s largest eight regional office markets, developers delivered 280,000 sqm (-31% y/y). It’s bringing the sector’s total stock to 6.68 million sqm (+4% y/y). The new supply slightly increased the vacancy rate, stabilizing around 17.5% (+2.2 pp. y/y) at the end of December 2023. The largest concentration of tenant activity was observed in the largest regional office markets, i.e., Kraków, Wrocław, and the Tricity (about 70% of gross demand), where, in total, companies leased about 520,000 sqm out of 750,000 sqm of all signed contracts in 2023, says Axi Immo.

Demand for lounge-style offices is on the rise across the office world. Fit-out costs have also increased which forces developers and construction companies to prepare projects more thoroughly than before. Property Forum asked Dávid Havas, Development Director at Fitout Zrt. about the latest trends in creating a lovely atmosphere to retain the best employees and use design and build concepts to keep costs low.

Radisson Hotel Group has opened in Belgrade its first hotel under the RED brand, marking its expansion in Southeast Europe.

Although office leasing opportunities are already very limited in Prague, the good news is that Colliers' survey has reported rather stable rental prices throughout the last year.

Rezidence Klíčov, a SHD Real Estate residential project, is moving into the construction phase. At the same time, the developer is opening sales for this residential community in Vysočany, Prague 9.