In Q1 2021, home prices in Slovakia increased by only 2% compared to Q1 2020. The prices of new dwellings increased by 2.6% and prices of used dwellings rose by 1.5%, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic announced.

The Polish office market was booming until the pandemic struck. 2020 brought many changes and a downturn in developer and tenant activity. How is the market doing in the new environment it found itself in over a year ago? Real estate advisory firm Cresa has analysed the current levels of pre-lets and the office development pipeline in Poland.

Romania’s Impact Developer & Contractor says it secured a loan worth €10.6 million from CEC Bank that will used for the completion of the first phase of Boreal Plus residential complex in Constanța.

Commercial property is viewed as having below-average risk levels in most CEE countries. Revenues from different asset classes are expected to recover to pre-COVID levels most rapidly in Poland, according to the RICS Global Commercial Property Monitor for Q1 2021.

Smaller retail facilities up to 20,000 sqm, such as parks, have proved their resilience to the pandemic in Central and Eastern Europe and remain attractive for investors. In Poland, 170,000 sqm of new supply in retail parks is planned for 2021, with 120,000 sqm in Romania, and 70,000 sqm in the Czech Republic, according to CBRE data. In all countries in the region, consumers and investors appreciate their locality, with development opportunities in small towns, supplying the most important needs and ensuring greater safety in the pandemic.

BPI Real Estate Poland has acquired a plot of land in the center of Wrocław for another project to be built in the capital of Lower Silesia. After Poznań, Warsaw and the Tri-City, this is the fourth location in Poland where the Belgian developer has recently purchased land with the intention to execute new construction projects. The acquisition of plots for new projects with a total gross surface area of 200,000 square meters is strictly related to the pursuit of BPI Real Estate Poland’s future development plans. 

CTP announced that in its first-ever ESG Risk rating, carried out by Sustainalytics Inc., the company achieved a low-risk score of 11.0. The ESG Risk score measures the degree to which the enterprise value of a company is exposed to material financial impacts from ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors. A score of 11.0 places CTP in the lower end of the “low-risk” category, which on the Sustainalytics scale ranges from 10–20.

Wood & Company has obtained a loan of €229.5 million, one of the highest amounts in the Slovak real estate market, to refinance the debt of the Aupark shopping centre in Bratislava. The financing will be provided by several European banking groups, all of which have operated historically in Slovakia. 

Savills Investment Management has entered into an agreement to form a strategic investment alliance with Samsung Life, the leading life insurer in Korea, and its real estate asset management subsidiary Samsung SRA. As part of this agreement, Samsung Life will acquire a minority interest in Savills IM Holdings Limited and commit capital of US$1 billion to Savills IM's investment strategies over the initial four years of the relationship. The transaction, which is conditional on various regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, is expected to complete in Q4, 2021.

Hungarian investor Indotek Group is ready to spend hundreds of millions of euros on diversifying its portfolio geographically. Krisztián Hornok, Transaction Director and Florin Tirla, Country Head for Romania & Bulgaria shared with Property Forum the details of the company’s ambitious international expansion strategy and also discussed the pandemic’s effects on the attractiveness of different asset classes.