AFI Europe Romania has secured the LEED Platinum precertification for AFI Tech Park 2, the second phase of the AFI Tech Park office development located in Bucharest. The developer worked with Colliers on the certification process.

Czech bank Česká spořitelna is initiating the construction of more affordable rental housing in Czech towns with a population of over 10,000. The bank plans to launch the first trio of projects with 250 flats in cooperation with three town halls this year or in early 2023. Rental housing in such projects should be at least one-fifth cheaper, E15 reported on the bank's new plans today.  

Kajima Properties has completed the development of one of Gdansk’s first built-to-rent schemes. A joint venture with local investor Tonsa and Olivia Business Centre, it marks Kajima’s first built-to-rent project in Poland and delivers a range of units from studios to three-bedroom family apartments. The building has been incorporated within the new @Home operational platform and has quick access to central Gdańsk, Olivia Business Centre and the rest of the Tri City area. The 3,185 sqm building has been fully let.

PRS (private rented sector) investments, which have been popular in Western Europe for years, are increasingly developing in Poland. In 2021, residential rental investments accounted for €0.6 billion of the capital invested in the country. In response to the needs of this rapidly growing sector, Colliers, as one of the first companies in the market, launched its PRS investment management and commercialization service. The first project of this kind in Colliers’ property management portfolio is one of the newest investments of Atrium European Real Estate in Kraków's Krowodrza district.

One of the leading flex office providers in CEE expects to see drastic changes in the office market during the coming years. Property Forum talked to Hubert Abt, CEO of New Work about the drivers of the rapidly evolving world of workplaces.

The tallest building in Slovakia, Eurovea Tower is rising in Bratislava by the Danube. With the completion of the 38th floor, the tower has reached 125 metres, the milestone by which it has become the highest building in the country already and has 40 metres still to come. By the end of 2022, Eurovea will be with the 47 floors and 168 metres the 1st skyscraper in the country, developer JTRE announced.

The modern stock of industrial spaces in Romania reached 5.9 million sqm in the first semester of 2022, with 500,000 sqm under construction and 44% of this volume already pre-let, according to a report by real estate consultancy CBRE.

Investment into the European logistics real estate market remained strong in Q1 2022 and experienced a y-o-y growth of 19.6%. The growth of 28% above the five years average has experienced the leased warehouse space. The biggest change occupiers anticipate as a result of the pandemic is the shortening, or reshoring, of supply chains to mitigate risk. Also, the war in Ukraine and China´s lockdowns has driven the demand to record levels, indicates Savills in their last European Logistics Outlook published today.

In line with the growing popularity of flexible and hybrid work models, many companies are relocating, changing size and trying to re-fitting their offices. This could be one of the reasons why Prague placed second in the CEE region in terms of the price of fitting out an office. Nevertheless, the key reasons are the tightening supply chain and challenges around labour, which are set to continue well in 2022 and beyond. The average costs per sqm in Prague are currently €1,037, which is half of what it is in top German cities or in the UK where the median cost exceeded €2,000, Cushman & Wakefield presents in their report.

UnicreditBank Czech Republic & Slovakia and Demaco have signed a long-term loan agreement together for funding the project in Northern Moravia. Demaco informed about the contract on its LinkedIn page.