Chinese investment company Fosun has acquired the Floreasca Park office building in northern Bucharest from German investor GLL. The transaction was carried out through Fosun’s local subsidiary Resolution Property, which acts as a value-added real estate investment manager.

A planning permit has been issued for Penta Real Estate’s The Residence Nuselský Pivovar development in Prague’s Nusle district. As part of the €77 million (CZK 2 billion) project, the developer will build 450 residential units on the site a historic brewery.

The first half of the “pandemic year” closed with a total value of investment transactions worth €408 million in Romania, around 18% above the first semester of 2019, with office assets accounting nearly 86% of volumes, according to Colliers International’s market report. Still, the outlook is uncertain since several large big-ticket items have either been frozen or fell through. On the opposite pole, the local land market continues to see deals closing and significant interest.

Kajima Properties Europe and Savills Investment Management have launched a new strategic partnership with the completion of the acquisition of Panattoni Europe’s interest in the 144,880 sqm Łódź City VI logistics park in Central Poland.

Skanska invests about €65 million in the first phase of the new office complex H2Offices located in Budapest, Hungary. It will offer a total leasable area of about 26,000 square meters and is designed to obtain WELL and LEED certifications.

Atenor announced the signing of a financing of €80 million with pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank and Erste Bank. This funding for a period of 5 years (2020 - 2025) covers the three buildings that make up the 75,000 sqm Hermes Business Campus office complex in Bucharest.

AFI Europe NV has concluded a new agreement with NEPI for the purchase of 4 Class A office projects in Romania, with a total GLA of 118,500 sqm. The transaction value is of €290 million and the portfolio’s takeover is scheduled to be finalised within the next four months.   

When assessing the first quarter of 2020, analysts of EBI Construction Activity Report Q1 2020 already highlighted the impact of the pandemic on the Hungarian construction industry. Back then, they did it with the help of a forecast based on limited available data, but since then actual data have been released and the impact of the pandemic on the sector can be assessed in detail.

The Polish warehouse market maintained its robust momentum in the first half of 2020, with a record 2.38 million sqm leased. Gross take-up in the second quarter of 2020 – during a time of strict COVID-19 lockdown measures - was as much as 50% higher compared to the same period in 2019, at 1.36 million sqm. Such good outcomes were the result of high demand for space on the back of booming e-commerce trade and numerous BTS transactions which commenced earlier in the year, according to Axi Immo.

Ever since shopping centres in Poland were reopened in May, the share of online sales in total retail sales has been falling steadily - it stood at 7.7% in June compared with 9.1% a month earlier and 5-6% before the pandemic. Cushman & Wakefield has summarised Q2 2020 on the Polish retail market.