The coronavirus outbreak continues to affect people and economies deeply. In the latest online panel organized by Property Forum, three real estate professionals discussed the impacts of the coronavirus crisis on the Bulgarian property market.

There were 5,971 residential property deals made in Hungary in April 2020, according to the latest monthly transaction estimate by real estate group Duna House. The last time the monthly figure was this low was at the low point of the previous crisis in 2013. Meanwhile, weekly data suggest that we are past the trough as the market picked up slightly in the second half of the month.

The office market in Sofia faces a significant slowdown, due to the economic uncertainty and weakening business activity caused by COVID-19, according to the latest market report of Forton, a strategic partner of Cushman & Wakefield for Bulgaria and Macedonia.

Neinver reopened its five outlet centres in Poland on 4 May under strict health and safety measures and with over 80% of their shops open. The Factory centres in Warsaw, Krakow, Gliwice and Poznan have implemented reopening plans in close coordination with the brands and authorities to ensure the maximum safety of employees and visitors.

Rental growth and yield compression eased across Europe’s commercial real estate markets in Q1 2020, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest DNA of Real Estate.

Take-up on the Bratislava office market amounted to 26,000 sqm in Q1 2020 which represents a 58% decrease compared to Q4 2019. The Bratislava Research Forum (JLL, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield and Colliers International) published the office market figures for Q1 2020.

The Industrial Research Forum in the Czech Republic announced the final industrial market figures for Q1 2020. According to the report, both global and local real estate markets are affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the adopted measures. The situation is changing dynamically and currently, no predictions can be treated as accurate. While Q1 2020 seems to be a slightly weaker quarter in terms of take-up volumes, the Industrial Research Forum expects the true impact to be visible during Q2 and beyond.

Property Forum’s latest online panel focused on the effects of COVID-19 on alternative asset classes such as student housing and build-to-rent. European investors, regional experts and local developers discussed how the popularity of alternative assets among investors might change once the crisis is over.

Dunwell brokered a transaction for TeraPlast for 5,000 sqm (1,500 sqm of warehouse space and 3,500 sqm of outer platform) in Mega Distribution Center’s park in Chiajna. The relocation from the northern area into this new space aims at increasing the efficiency of the company’s distribution activities.

In the fourth instalment of a series of reports about COVID-19 and the implications for logistics real estate, Prologis Research looked at customer resilience amid high economic volatility and concluded that diversity of the company client base is a key factor in insulating the portfolio in turbulent market conditions.