What will the Warsaw office market look like in the next 18 months? Experts of Savills have outlined two potential scenarios. Both scenarios foresee a short-term decrease in demand and rising vacancy rates, but with a different scale of impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Polish capital’s office market. Both also forecast that the market will remain resilient in the long term.

Total demand on the Budapest office market in Q2 2020 reached 87,990 sqm, representing a 46% decrease year-on-year and the number of signed transactions dropped by almost 50% compared to the same quarter of 2019, according to BRF’s latest figures.

Speedwell has closed a significant deal with KPMG for office space lease at Miro, the company’s new project located in Băneasa, Bucharest. The project has marked a key milestone as it has just received its building permit and will welcome KPMG’s employees at the end of 2021. The office division of Knight Frank Romania was the consultant in the transaction.

20 years after opening its first shopping mall in Iași, Iulius is launching a new retail concept. Family Market is a concept that addresses the expectations and needs of people living in expanding residential areas. The first project of this type is proposed for Miroslava commune in Iași County and entails an investment upwards of €6 million.

There are only four construction projects with a unit value in excess of PLN 3 billion (€670 million), excl. VAT, currently underway in Poland. The combined value of these projects, commonly referred to as megaprojects, is almost PLN 17 billion (€3.8 billion), excl. VAT. This is not a lot, given the fact that projects worth a total of nearly PLN 300 billion (€67 billion) are in the pipeline.

Savills has been appointed sole letting agent for office space in Eximius Park, an office complex on the outskirts of Kraków. The buildings of the complex have been upgraded since they changed hands and are now ready to welcome new tenants.

Skanska plans to build the first climate-neutral office building in the CEE region. The developer is going to use a solution based on structural timber, as wood is a natural resource that will help reduce the carbon footprint. Construction works on the office building located on Radlická Street in Prague are planned to begin in 2023. Skanska has made a global commitment through a climate target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2045, with a 50% reduction by 2030.

Industrial property specialist Gazeley announced that it is adopting the GLP brand name following its acquisition by the global investment manager in 2017. In addition, GLP announces that it has closed on the acquisition of Goodman Group’s Central and Eastern European logistics real estate portfolio.

Chariot Top Group BV, a company managed by Griffin Real Estate, has finalized the sale of the investment plot located in Katowice at Al. Górnośląska.

Results from the INREV Quarterly Index for the first quarter of 2020 reveal initial signs of the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the European real estate industry, with the lowest quarterly performance since Q4 2012.