Policy-makers face the harsh dilemma of having to mitigate an economic slowdown and revenue shortfalls, in addition to a rapidly growing infection rate. The biggest challenge for the next couple of months will be to determine how long lockdown measures should be kept in place.

While near-term conditions remain uncertain, a recession is becoming increasingly probable and Prologis has identified five areas that will shape market conditions. Current events have also led to the quick emergence of two new structural demand drivers, namely the need for more inventories as supply chains emphasize resilience over efficiency and the re-acceleration of e-commerce adoption.

Property Forum’s first virtual event will bring together influential investors, bankers and advisors to analyse the potential short- and long-term impacts of the coronavirus crisis on property investments in the CEE region.

International Investment Bank (IIB) and DOB-68 Zrt. in full accordance with the requirements of the Hungarian legislation signed the documentation on the acquisition of the historic Lánchíd Palota building in Budapest. The building will house IIB’s international headquarters.

Throughout the region, CTP is offering clients the opportunity to lease warehouse space for short terms. This measure comes in response to the concerns being raised by the COVID-19 situation regarding the stability of the retail supply chain.

NEPI Rockcastle provided an initial update concerning the impact of the COVID-19 related government measures on its activities in an announcement dated 17 March 2020. Since that date, the authorities in Romania, Serbia and Croatia have increased the safety measures to contain the spreading of COVID-19. New measures include temporarily limiting the operations of some of its shopping centres’ tenants.

CBRE has facilitated the lease of approximately 15,500 sqm of office space to the expanding Prague team of ExxonMobil in Luxembourg Plaza in Prague 3. The 1,200 employees who currently work in two different office buildings will move into the new headquarters in Q1 2022.

Hillwood is developing two Class A city warehouses in Warsaw’s Targówek district with a total area of ​​almost 50,000 sqm. Completion of the first hall with an area of ​​24,600 sqm is scheduled for Q3 2020.

In 2019, Poznań saw its total office stock expand by nearly 18% to 564,800 sqm following the delivery of ten office projects totalling 85,700 sqm. Cushman & Wakefield has summarised last year on Poznań’s office market.

CTP further expanded its portfolio in Romania and in the vicinity of Bucharest where it owns three properties: CTPark Bucharest West, CTPark Bucharest and CTPark Bucharest Chitila. The most recent 57,000 sqm purchase, Equest Logistic Park, is located near the capital, on the A1, at km 13. It was acquired for approximately €30 million from Forum Serdika, in the beginning of March 2020.