Dan Petrescu, 68, has died on Sunday shortly after the private jet he was piloting crashed near an airport in Milan.

Maciej Dyjas and Nebil Senman, Managing Partners at Griffin Real Estate have talked to Property Forum about investing in new opportunities, the future of the retail and changes in the office market.

The trade sector, greatly weakened by the pandemic, has gained a new investment niche. This year, the increased activity of investors, now mainly focused on the construction of retail parks and convenience centres, will result in the largest growth of these facilities in the history of the Polish market.

According to the UK analyst of Euroconstruct, Harvir Dhillon, material shortages have plagued the construction industry over the past few months. In tandem with rising inflation, global construction activity has experienced a supply-side shock that looks set to persist well into 2022. Disruption in the supply chain has been driven by a number of factors, from the constrained capacity of sawmills and steel mills to environmental factors such as the forest fires seen in major timber exporters like the United States and Sweden, to name but a few.

In 2021, the excess demand in the Austrian apartment building market will continue to lead to solid increases in the values of residential and commercial buildings. However, according to Arnold Investments, prices in very good and good locations have currently stabilised at a high level. Entry-level prices for local properties within the “Gürtel” (beltway) are currently starting at €4,000 to €5,000 per square metre.

Polish developer Scallier has delivered its first retail park in Romania and has a pipeline of new retail projects in the country.  

The social media giant has opened its operations centre in Olivia Centre in Oliwa district of Gdańsk. In the first phase, 80 places were created, and by 2023 the team will expand to 500 people. The branch will support companies from the SME sector with their promotional campaigns on Facebook and related applications.

Leach & McGuire have signed an agreement to start work on two buildings that Heimstaden purchased in Warsaw earlier in 2021 from Marvipol, specifically ‘Unique Tower’ on ul. Grzybowska comprising 136 apartments and ‘Moko’ (Botanika) on ul. Bokserska featuring 477 residential units.

Retail began to transform well before the COVID-19 pandemic. It has, however, evolved a lot faster than expected and the pandemic has created a whole new environment that all market participants have to learn to navigate. Cushman & Wakefield has issued its latest report “Is Confidence Returning to the Retail Market?” highlighting what the retail market looks like from the perspective of tenants, landlords and customers.

S Immo aims to further strengthen its presence in the Central and Eastern European region, including Hungary, the company announced in a press release celebrating 20 years of operation in the Hungary.