Speedwell's development pipeline in Romania has a strong focus on the residential segment but the company also aims to expand its SpacePlus industrial product across the country and CEE. Property Forum sat down with Didier Balcaen and Jan Demeyere, Co-Founders of Speedwell, at MIPIM, to talk about the financing environment and challenges related to inflation and the shortage of construction materials.

The 2021 financial year brought a massive increase in Immofinanz’s earning power. The results of operations rose by roughly 46% to €210.1 million and clearly topped the previous year as well as the pre-crisis period in 2019. Net profit improved significantly to €345.8 million, compared with the crisis-related loss of €-165.9 million in the previous year.

The Prague City Council plans to start building hundreds of council flats for rent in the coming years. The municipality wants to address the deepening housing affordability crisis in this way, E15.cz reports.

The Romanian Competition Council said it was assessing the transaction through which Revetas Capital Fund III intends to take over domestic residential developer Maurer Group.

Heimstaden subsidiary Heimstaden Bostad AB is buying the 400-apartment residential project Aurora in Warsaw from development company Dantex. The transaction is structured as a turnkey forward funded acquisition, where Heimstaden Bostad does not carry any direct development risk. Completion is scheduled for mid-2024.

Real estate advisory firm Savills has been appointed as sole letting agent for office space in West Forum in Wrocław. The office complex is owned by GNT Ventures Properties managed by TFG Asset Management.

BPI Real Estate Poland is preparing to launch 6 new projects in Poland. These will be located in Poznań, Warsaw, Wrocław and Tri-city. They are scheduled to start in 2022. In total, the projects will deliver nearly 70 thousand sqm of usable residential space to the Polish market and will provide more than 2,200 residential units. The projects in the pipeline range from residential developments to mixed-use units and enter the new PRS sector.

Bright Spaces, the Romanian proptech startup, has launched its first international subsidiary in London, as part of its scale up strategy. 

Leading tax advisor Petr Karpeles, Partner at TPA Czech Republic, sees new market players entering the Czech market, in addition to a strong appetite from existing investors for new products. He shared his observations with Property Forum related to the current investment market sentiment based on consultations with clients.

There is currently over 46 million sqm of industrial space in the CEE region, of which one-fifth is in the Czech Republic and the largest part – more than a half – in Poland. There is more than 900 sqm of industrial space per thousand inhabitants in the country. Just 1.6% of the space in Czechia is currently vacant. A record-breaking 1,112,000 sqm is currently under development in the Czech Republic – the highest figure in history. Demand on the part of logistics, distribution and e-commerce companies is growing. Cushman & Wakefield has analysed the trends in the industrial property sector in five Central European countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) in 2021.