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.

Venus Crown Residence Estate will develop the first DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Brașov following the signing of a management agreement with Hilton. The hotel with 150+ guestrooms is expected to open in the summer of 2023 following an investment of €21 million. 

French real estate group Catinvest will add 5,500 sqm retail space, 1,200 sqm for a shared open-air terrace for the food court and a new playground of 500 sqm in Electroputere Mall, located in Craiova. 

Fortim Trusted Advisors, the property consultancy member in the BNP Paribas Real Estate Alliance in Romania, says it will record a turnover of RON 5 million (around €1 million) this year, while next year’s growth expectations are set at 30% year-on-year.

More businesses have discovered that remote work arrangements support growth, but the future of work will include both office-based and remote work, driven by the nature of tasks, suggested speakers during the workplace strategies panel of SEE Property Forum 2021, Property Forum's annual event in Bucharest.

George Becali, one of the wealthiest Romanians active in the property sector, has taken over Inter Hotel from Interagro, an agriculture group that is under administration.