In previous quarters the analysts of the EBI Construction Activity Report broadly discussed the negative effects of the pandemic on Hungary’s construction industry. The latest figures also suggest that there is still no improvement in the sector after a weak first half of the year.

238,300 sqm of office space was delivered to the Warsaw office market in the first three quarters of 2020, reveals Cushman & Wakefield. Due to the worsening sentiment of market participants, prime headline rents edged down by €0.25/sqm/month, standing at €23.75/sqm/month in the centre and at €14.75/sqm/month in non-central locations.

During Q3 2020, gross take-up on the Czech industrial market reached 289,400 sqm which is a decrease of 21% year-on-year. Still, the vacancy rate decreased over the quarter. The Industrial Research Forum announced the industrial market figures for Q3 2020.

While in Poland over 20% of investors are favouring projects that have high ESG-related ratings (which is fourth highest figure globally), Hungary and the Czech Republic are the two countries with the highest share (over 40%) of respondents saying that ESG considerations play no role when they evaluate projects, according to the latest results of the RICS Global Commercial Property Monitor.

South African investment fund RMH plans to invest €200 million in the mixed-use real estate project planned around the Romexpo exhibition centre in Bucharest by Romanian businessman Iulian Dascalu and Atterbury Bucharest, the local subsidiary of South African investor Atterbury Europe (which is 37.5% owned by RMH). RMH will own a quarter of the project, according to Profit.ro.

Poland’s commercial property investment volume surpassed €4 billion in the January-September period of 2020, down by 12.4% on the same period in 2019. Logistics accounted for nearly half of the investment activity while offices made up 38% of the transaction volume in Q1-Q3 2020, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Hungarian lender OTP Bank has granted a RON 8.9 million lei (€1.8 million) loan to Romanian logistics operator Rara Invest. The company is using the funds for the expansion of its Sura Mica industrial park in Sibiu.

During the first nine months of 2020, developers completed over 530,000 sqm of office space in Poland: 231,600 in Warsaw and 305,000 sqm in eight major regional markets (Kraków, Wrocław, Tricity, Poznań, Łódź, Katowice, Lublin and Szczecin). Due to the new supply and moderate demand, more than 1.2 million sqm of office space is now available. Axi Immo presented the latest data for the Polish office market as at the end of the third quarter of 2020.

Romanian lender BCR, part of Austria’s Erste Group Bank, has reportedly reached an agreement to sell the Bucharest Financial Plaza office building on Calea Victoriei that served as the headquarters of defunct state lender Bancorex.  The buyer is a German investor and the details of the deal will be announced in early December, Economica.net reports.

German group Metro intends to sell and lease back 9 of its stores in Romania to increase its competitiveness and efficiency and to improve liquidity for new investments and developments. The offer also includes 6 stores in Slovakia.