The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many widespread changes in the booming Polish residential market. Demand for larger, greener apartments and the need to amend real estate law are only a few of them, said speakers during the discussion panel of Living Investment Forum 2021, Property Forum's annual event in Warsaw. 

Some companies have seen slight increases in the productivity of employees working remotely since the pandemic, which fuelled the idea that most employees can continue to work from anywhere since they can be just as productive as working from the office. But there is a contradiction here: on a global scale, more and more people worked and lived under stressful conditions in the last year and a half. In this context, the big question is if people can be more productive remotely in the long run. Moreover, this situation brings on a very important idea, that offices should become hubs designed for productivity and sustain a much less stressful way of working for employees in the long term. Gavin Bonner, Vice President at Genesis Property explains the topic in an opinion piece for Property Forum.

Romanian developer One United Properties recorded a record turnover of RON 627.7 million (€126.8 million) in the first nine months of the year, up 87% year-on-year, while the gross profit gained 186% y/y to RON 293.3 million (€48.3 million) on higher residential sales and increased occupancy rates in offices.

The rampant growth in rents across the logistics sector continues amid a broader recovery in markets as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic begin to wane, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest DNA of Real Estate research for Q3 2021.

CTP, the biggest owner of industrial and logistics spaces in Romania, says it has signed a lease deal with beverage maker Tuborg Romania. 

Housing prices rose just 0.5% in Q2 2021 in Hungary, according to the Central Statistical Office’s (KSH) latest Housing Price Index. Year on year, the increase was 11.5% in Q2, partly because of a low base as prices fell slightly between April and June 2020 due to pandemic-related uncertainty.

Property developer Prime Kapital says it has finished the demolition phase on a former industrial platform in Iași where it will kick off the construction of Silk District, a mixed-use scheme. 

The Czech market is expected to record a full-year investment volume of €775 million and €475 million for offices and logistics, respectively, signalling continued growth in both market segments. Savills experts Pavel Novák and Chris LaRue talked to Property Forum about the key trends driving the Czech office and logistics markets.

IWG, the operator of flexible and co-working spaces, says it has signed the first franchise partner in Romania. 

Millennium Gardens, developed by TriGranit in Budapest, is over the design stage of the two-stage BREEAM certification, which puts the office building in the Excellent category.