Sales of homes on the Romanian market totaled 85,000 units in the first half of 2022, up 3.4% compared to the same period of last year, according to real estate consultancy SVN Romania. In the same interval, sales in Bucharest and Ilfov county rose by 16.6%. 

Leasing volumes in the Romanian industrial and logistics market rose by 50% to 542,000 sqm compared to the same period of last year, with more than half of the activity being generated around Bucharest.

Property Forum talked to Andrew Sim, Managing Director for Europe and Horațiu Florescu, Chairman & CEO Knight Frank Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece & Serbia, about the segments driving property investments in CEE and the impact of rising inflation and interest rates on transactions.

Romanian developer One United Properties has purchased a land plot of 36,869 sqm in northern Bucharest in a deal worth around €60 million. The company plans to develop a new residential complex with around 900 apartments.

The Czech industrial market has set new records in Q2 2022. The total stock has reached 10.1 million sqm while net demand totalled 530,500 sqm. In Q2 2022, the largest lease agreement in the history of the Industrial Research Forum was also signed.

The gross take-up in the Prague office market has increased by 41% in Q2 2022 compared to Q2 2021. The volume of office construction also increased y-o-y by 47%. Leasing activity was driven by IT companies and the rent gap between newly completed and existing buildings continues to widen, says the office market report for Q2 2022 published by The Prague Research Forum.

The Green Point office building in Prague's Smíchov district will expand the assets of WOOD & Company's Office subfund. The eight-storey building has 7.5 thousand sqm of lettable office space available and at the moment half of it is already occupied. The amount of the acquisition from Ronaldsay B.V. was not published by WOOD & Company.

The rise of e-commerce and changing customer preferences have created a new phenomenon: Dark Stores; that is, online retailers delivering goods within 15 minutes of ordering. During the pandemic and the closure of brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce reached its peak. Some e-shops saw their sales grow by several tens of percents last year. In connection with this, demand for smaller, centrally located e-shop locations and warehouses with 150 to 500 sqm of space began to grow, especially in larger cities with sufficiently dense housing.

Bogdan Doicescu, Development Director & Executive Board Member at Bog’Art, spoke to Property Forum about the cost forecast for the construction market in 2022 and the company’s plans to diversify their activity with their own residential developments in Bucharest.

The lowest vacancy was registered in North Buda with a 4.4% rate, whereas the highest rate remained in the Periphery submarket (31.4%). Net absorption has remained positive by the end of the second quarter, amounting to 33,720 sqm, Budapest Research Forum (BRF) reports.