Focus Estate Fund is expanding its operations in Poland with the acquisition of Ferio Legnica (a shopping centre in the city of Legnica in southwestern Poland) from Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International. CBRE represented the seller in the transaction. Czabański & Gałuszyński together with Gleeds and KKLW advised the buyer. The price has not been disclosed.

Property investor Yellow Tree has purchased the Olympia Tower office building in Bucharest from Bluehouse Capital for an undisclosed sum. 

The historic building will offer 4,600 sqm of office and 340 sqm of retail space in the very heart of the Hungarian capital. The opening is expected at the end of January.

Residential developer Redport Capital has purchased a land plot of 10,800 sqm and warehouses covering 4,700 sqm near a project that the company is currently developing in the Petrom City area in northern Bucharest.

In 2022, 1,519 flats were sold in Bratislava's new buildings, the fewest since the financial crisis in 2008. The average price of available flats is €4,900/sqm including VAT. After almost eight years of strong sales and double-digit price growth, activity in the residential market has cooled significantly, according to a report by Bencont Investments.

Some 100,000 sqm of new retail spaces were delivered last year in Romania, of which 80% were integrated in retail parks, while new projects with a leasable area of around 230,000 sqm are expected in 2023, which would be a 6-year high, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Panattoni is supporting the upcycling of the machinery used to generate green energy. In 15 of the developer’s locations, environmentally-friendly outdoor furniture can be found, made from former wind turbines. In 2023, similar furniture is to appear in another 100 locations.

A key challenge facing many real estate corporates, who historically have been reliant on the bond markets, is the quantum of near-term maturities. This includes the Nordics where JLL estimates circa 32% of real estate corporate bonds are due to mature within the next 2 years. 

Demand for renting and buying real estate should remain decent over the longer term in Romania and its neighbors, despite 2023 most likely being a bit more challenging than a regular year, according to experts of Colliers. 

Romanian developer Transilvania Construcții has purchased an industrial park in Arad from Comalim in a deal estimated at around €3.5 million.