The performance of sectors relevant to the commercial real estate market improved in the second quarter of 2021, while the positive impact of growth on the real estate market fell short of that observed in previous cycles, partly due to the direct impact of the pandemic (lasting drop in tourism) and partly to uncertainties resulting from the trends accelerated by the pandemic (penetration of home office and e-commerce), the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) said in its latest Commercial Real Estate Market Report. In addition to an overview of the office, warehouse, hotel and retail markets, the report also reveals that the ratio of domestic investors in all property deals was nearly 80%, even higher than in the especially active year of 2019.

Real estate group Duna House has released its monthly Transaction Estimate and mortgage forecast, showing that there were 11,526 residential property transactions in Hungary in October 2021, down 2.4% over September, and also below the October prints of the previous years. This marks a downturn after a pickup in August and September, but the number of transactions is still expected to exceed 150,000 in 2021.

Asking prices of apartments in Romania rose by 10.3% in the first nine months of 2021 compared to the same period of last year, with Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca remaining the most expensive markets for home buyers, according to a report by Imobiliare.ro portal. 

Schönfeld & Co Nemovitosti’s Premium Real Estate Fund has acquired the REDA logistics complex in Brno-Slatina from RSBC Group for CZK 300 million. At the beginning of next year, Schönfeld & Co is planning another acquisition for CZK 700 million, local daily e15.cz reports.

For the second successive quarter, developers have attempted to establish equilibrium between units sold and new units coming onto the market. Rising inflation continues to drive buyers to developers’ offices, with sales for the first three quarters of 2021 exceeding 2020’s annual total, says JLL. 

The Polish warehouse market is experiencing an unprecedented boom. In the first half of 2021, the take-up of logistics space in Poland exceeded 3 million square meters for the first time in history and was higher than in the United Kingdom, France or Spain.

Croatia’s remarkable recovery from the brutal impact that the COVID-19 epidemic had on the country in 2020 is, like its construction boom, both real and smoke and mirrors, both temporary and long-term, according to Michael Glazer (SEE Regional Advisors) and Tatjana Halapija (Nada Projekt), the Eastern European Construction Forecasting Association’s members in Croatia.

The Romanian industrial and logistics market recorded a total demand of 562,000 sqm in the first three quarters of 2021, down only 3% compared to the same period of last year. The sector was mainly driven by new demand, which reached 86% of the total transacted volume, according to real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

French property group Catinvest has opened a second mixed-use building within its Electroputere Parc project based in Craiova. 

Revetas announced the successful disposal of the remaining assets of its Revetas Capital Fund II’s Project Papa office portfolio in Prague, bringing the total transaction value to over €100 million. One of the four assets initially comprised in the portfolio, BBC Vila, has previously been sold to Passerinvest Group. The three remaining buildings with a total GLA of c. 33,000 sqm are located in close proximity of each other in the Karlin neighbourhood of Prague’s 8th district and were acquired by local real estate group Českomoravská Nemovitostní (ČMN). The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.