Hungary's economy could rebound with 4.2% GDP growth in 2021 following a 3.1% contraction this year, according to a forecast by the International Monetary Fund published on Tuesday. According to the IMF, Hungary's economy is surprisingly resilient to the crisis, with only Serbia expected to do slightly better this year in the region.

Investors still show interest for real estate acquisitions Romania, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey conducted by Colliers International among more than 60 real estate companies.

According to a recent report published by Cresa, portfolio transactions are on the rise on the Polish retail market. Two of last year’s three largest commercial real estate transactions were retail portfolio deals: the €600 million acquisition of the shopping centre portfolio from Cromwell Polish Retail Fund by Cromwell Property Group and the disposal of Atrium Koszalin and Atrium Felicity to ECE Group for €298 million.

Countries in CEE acted early by closing their borders and introducing lockdown measures in response to the pandemic. Now, Austria and the Czech Republic are among the first in Europe to begin lifting their coronavirus restrictions.

Cushman & Wakefield has formed the Recovery Readiness Task Force (RRTF) to lead the development of best practices, products and partnerships to prepare clients for post-COVID-19 recovery and the eventual return to the workplace. Additionally, Cushman & Wakefield has launched a new office design concept on its website, showcasing a new social distancing program developed by the firm and being piloted in The Netherlands.

Furniture retailer Jysk will begin building a new distribution centre in Ecser, Hungary in April. When in operation, the €200 million distribution centre will employ around 300 people and further strengthen the company’s logistics setup in Europe, the company announced.

OKAM Global Commercial, a new commercial real estate company founded by residential developer OKAM Capital, has appointed Savills as property manager for its recently acquired office building at 16 Lindleya Street in Warsaw.

The state of emergency imposed by the current pandemic has led to the almost total vacancy of office spaces, within the context of many of the employees working from home. The landlords want to lower service charge levels for this period and continue to provide the necessary services to maintain the buildings in optimal conditions, according to a report by CBRE Romania.

The topic of Property Forum’s second online panel was the impact of the coronavirus lockdown on real estate financing in CEE. After the economic outlook of Commerzbank’s Senior EM Strategist, Tatha Ghose, four expert bankers discussed the short and long-term effects of the pandemic, such as how the lockdown affects ongoing deals, what kind of recession are we looking at and how the perception of individual asset classes may change in light of the current events. According to the experts, the recovery is expected to take longer in Hungary and Poland, while the rebound may come sooner in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Saving money and time spent in traffic are the main advantages of working from home, while the main disadvantages are the lack of direct socialization with colleagues and the difficulty in separating professional from personal time, according to a survey conducted by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.