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.

Penta Group has expanded its real estate portfolio in the centre of Prague by another building. In an e-auction, Penta was the only bidder to acquire the former post office building at Masaryk railway station in Hybernská Street for a bid price of CZK 220 million. Now the contract will be signed and the price will be paid. Both parties to the transaction have confirmed it to the Czech Press Agency.

In the first half of 2022, office take-up in Warsaw hit a record high of 479,400 sqm, representing a year-on-year increase of 94%. Savills forecasts that the growing undersupply of office space will drive rental growth going forward, further accelerated by shrinking availability and significant increases in construction costs and office property management fees.

Panattoni has marked its debut in Asian markets with the opening of its first operational headquarters in India located in Bengaluru, the capital and largest city in the southwest state of Karnataka. Panattoni India is led by Managing Director, Sandeep Chanda, formerly head of strategy & acquisitions at Embassy Industrial Parks.

Property developer Alesonor has obtained a financing of €21 million from Banca Transilvania that will be used for the first phase of the Amber Forest project near Bucharest. The money will support the development of 294 green homes. 

Romanian developer Element Industrial has secured a loan of €23 million from Alpha Bank Romania for the construction of the first two phases of the ELI Park 3 project, part of the ELI Park Bucharest North West hub. 

As of May 2022, Alena Liškay Králíková is the new ESG Manager of Czech development company Crestyl. According to her, while thinking about ESG in real estate businesses, it is important that buildings are not only serving the company´s ESG goals but also their residents, tenants and the entire neighbourhood too.

Romania’s modern industrial and logistics facilities stock reached 5.6 million sqm at the end of 2021, which represents the third largest industrial and logistics market among 15 of the biggest economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).