2020 was a year characterized by increased activity in regional cities in terms of commercial centre deliveries, but the delivery volume of new spaces will reduce strongly this year, according to the real estate consulting company Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Avison Young experts estimate that Bucharest will continue to attract over 40% of industrial developments in the coming years, and then regional cities will recover.

Sales of houses, land, and apartments in January were almost 40% higher than the same month last year, according to the Romanian National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration (ANCPI). 

Total commercial real estate investment into the Slovak market amounted to €502 million in 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 27%, according to Cushman  & Wakefield’s market reports for Q4 2020.

The MBARE programme (MBA – Real Estate Investment, Development and Valuation) taught at the Prague University of Economics and Business, after only three years of operation, has been accredited by the international organization RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) for the field of commercial real estate and real estate valuation. It is the only accredited MBA programme of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe.

Polish industrial and logistics developer MLP Group continues its expansion strategy welcoming Austria to its portfolio. The developer has successfully acquired a plot to develop a new urban project MLP Business Park Vienna, located in the north-eastern part of Vienna in close proximity to the S2 expressway. The undeveloped land has a total area of 98,249 sqm and will offer almost 55,000 sqm of leasable space upon development completion. The transaction was liaised by the real estate advisor Otto Immobilien /Knight Frank.

Property investment volumes for the CEE region totalled €10.4 billion in 2020, 24% below 2019 levels. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary all saw year-over-year declines in volumes. Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria all saw increases. By comparison, EMEA  volumes are estimated to be down by ca. 27% YoY but Colliers’ latest reports indicates a strong rebound in 2021. Investor appetite remains strong for 2021 for the CEE region but will continue to be challenged by available product and the varying impact of COVID on certain sectors.

2020 was a good year for the Romanian transaction market, with a volume that approached the threshold of €1 billion. Most of the transactions concluded were for office buildings, with a volume of €784 million. Although estimates for 2021 are more modest, we can expect the sale of several important assets to go through this year. Property Forum lists the office buildings in Bucharest that could change owners in the next 12 months.

The fourth quarter of 2020 closed a year full of changes and upcoming trends on the Czech industrial market. Despite the pandemic, the industrial segment proved stable, and there was a significant acceleration in the development of e-commerce, and specifically the digitalisation of the entire retail sector. There remains a high demand for premises on the market from investors and clients, and this interest puts pressure on prices, which will increase significantly at premium locations in 2021, according to 108 Agency.

E-commerce makes a major leap registering important figures globally, reaching 4.28 trillion dollars in 2020, an increase of 27.6% compared to 2019, and the demand for logistics services is on the rise. Here are the latest trends in the e-commerce and logistics sectors as predicted by futurologist Sean Culey – strategist, transformation advisor, and external consultant to P3 Logistics Parks.