With a total volume of approximately €120 million in the first quarter, the Romanian investment market had a similar start compared with the same period in 2019, when the volume of transactions was €117.5 million. An optimistic scenario puts the total volume of investments for 2020 at €750 million, while a pessimistic one somewhere at €500 million. Crosspoint Real Estate has issued its latest market report on the Romanian real estate market’s performance.

Colliers International’ latest report “COVID-19 European Real Estate Markets Government Response” presents information on how the national governments across EMEA are supporting businesses with specific reference to commercial and residential rent/mortgage payments, business loans and grants, taxation allowances and business rates and household/individuals salaries. Force majeure impact on lease contracts is also considered.

In Q1 2020, Panattoni signed leases for more than 425,000 sqm, of which 207,000 sqm were taken up in March alone. There was 1,051,777 sqm under development, and since the beginning of its European operations, Panattoni has delivered 10 million square metres, with 7.6 million of that in Poland.

For the first time since Q4 2018, the vacancy rate on the Budapest office market increased in Q1 2020, albeit only by 0.6 pps. Total demand in the first quarter of 2020 reached 79,660 sqm, stagnating year-on-year, according to BRF’s latest figures.

Property Forum’s next virtual event will take a closer look at the immediate and long-term effects of the coronavirus lockdown of real estate financing in CEE. Hear the economic outlook of Commerzbank’s Senior EM Strategist and listen to the discussion of influential bankers. Participants will also have the chance to ask questions and share their personal experiences.

Hungarian residential developer Cordia is introducing a new, secure, online service that covers the entire home buying process, including virtual viewing and remote contract signing.

The preliminary investment volumes for the CEE region for Q1 2020 have reached ca. €3.7 billion, despite the onset of COVID-19 in CEE at the beginning of March. This volume was significantly boosted by the ca. €1.3 billion acquisition of the Residomo portfolio in the Czech Republic by Heimstaden, however, it still represents a y-o-y growth of 68% over Q1 2019 (ca. €2.2 billion) and 28% over Q1 2018 (ca. €2.9 billion).

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Management Board of CA Immo has decided to reschedule the 33rd Annual General Meeting from originally 7 May 2020 to 25 August 2020. As a result, the resolution on the appropriation of net profit for 2019 and a dividend payment will also be postponed.

A new weekly EMEA COVID-19 research report from Cushman & Wakefield, 'COVID-19 Impacts For EMEA Real Estate', outlines the sweeping impact the COVID-19 crisis is having on the European hotel market in 2020.

In its first of a series of global sentiment surveys, Savills has assessed the initial impact of COVID-19 on transactional and occupier markets around the world, with 67% of countries currently reporting a moderate negative impact, and 29% citing a severely negative impact.