AFI Europe announced that it would start building a retail park in Arad by the end of this year. The developer will invest €40 million in the project located on an 80,000 sqm land plot, zf.ro reports.

Oasis Retail Development & Consulting has entered into a partnership with Austrian-based group Supernova for the development of Prima Shopping Center Sibiu. The 40,000 sqm retail park is located north of the city centre.

Bucharest’s central business district developed around Victoriei Square is registering an upward evolution in office activity, with a historic record-high volume in take-up and positive growth in pipeline stock, as showed by the latest office analysis conducted by Activ Property Services.

Colliers International sees the most important macro indicator for CEE in 2019, Eurozone interest rates, flat-lining at zero. This should stem some of the potential angst over tightening credit conditions, keep liquidity high, buyers interested and help pricing to plateau. Colliers International foresees selective compression in capital city prime office yields and still like the logistics sector. Absent a Eurozone financial crisis, funding from lenders should remain a support. Colliers International published its latest CEE report.

Hungary’s Horizon Development has been granted a development loan by UniCredit for its ongoing Szervita Square mixed-use development in the centre of Budapest. At the same time, the developer has pre-leased all four office floors (8,500 sqm) of the project to coworking space provider Spaces.

At the end of 2018, Warsaw’s total office stock stood at 5.46 million sqm. Despite last year’s supply gap, which is expected to carry into 2019, new supply totalled 232,700 sqm delivered across 20 office projects, down by 70,000 sqm on the five-year average for 2012–2017. Cushman & Wakefield presented a summary of 2018 on the Warsaw office market.

Cromwell Property Group has completed the sale of the Pohořelice Industrial Park to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed sum. The 44,444 sqm complex, which is situated about 27 km south of Brno, comprises a logistics building, a fully-refurbished cross-dock building and a workshop together with an assembly unit. The asset formed part of the Cromwell European Industrial Fund (CEIF) portfolio.

According to JLL, CEE's real estate investment transactional volume for 2018 was in excess of €13.23 billion and recorded an 11% increase over 2017 (€11.92 billion). JLL has registered continued appetite from investors for the full range of assets across the entire region. Poland smashed its previous record volume set in 2006 (€5.05 billion) with a spectacular €7.2 billion traded, and secured a massive regional share of 54%. Poland was followed by the Czech Republic (€2.51 billion - 19% share), Hungary (€1.85 billion - 14%), Romania (€900 million - 7%) and Slovakia (€820 million - 6%).

Tower 1 and Tower 2, the first two office buildings of the Globalworth Campus project in Bucharest, have been awarded BREEAM certificates with a rating of 'Excellent'. The certification recognizes the high standards of sustainability and the healthy working environment of the 57,000 sqm of Class A office space in the complex located in the northern part of the city.

By opening its first hostel in Poland’s capital Warsaw, Berlin-based budget group a&o is set to expand its portfolio to 35 hostels, 22 cities, and seven countries. The former office building in the central district of Wola will have over 200 rooms and 600 beds, and will open in Q3 2019.