Bulgaria-based insurance company DZI, part of Belgium's KBC Group, has acquired Mall Varna, an office building located in Varna, Bulgaria. The seller was Hidrostroy, a local company. The transaction price has not been disclosed.

In H2 2019, gross take-up on the Brno office market reached 54,600 sqm (up by 303% y-o-y), whereas in Ostrava gross take-up reached 4,100 sqm, representing a y-o-y decrease of 41%. The Regional Research forum announced the Brno and Ostrava office market figures for H2 2019.

Diamante Plaza, an office building located in Kraków, was sold to Catalyst Capital. Experts from Capital Markets at BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland provided commercial advisory to the buyer and supported him in finalising the purchase.  

According to JLL, CEE's real estate investment volume for 2019 hit €14.0 billion. Poland registered over 55% of this total (€7.7 billion) and was followed by the Czech Republic (€3.1 billion), Hungary (€1.7 billion), Slovakia (approx. €770 million), and Romania (approx. €683 million).

UAE business conglomerate Al Habtoor Group is set to open a regional office in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, to service its existing European operations and scout for new investment opportunities. The group, with its wide-ranging interests in the hospitality, real estate, automotive, education and vehicle leasing sectors, plans to expand its enterprise reach in new European markets.

Savills Investment Management acquired a logistics centre near Wrocław. The purchase price amounts to €32.7 million. This modern facility with a total area of 46,000 sqm. was purchased by Savills IM on behalf of Savills IM European Logistics Fund 3 (ELF 3) from Panattoni Europe.

Business confidence among Polish construction companies tumbled early this year, with the heaviest burden, as perceived by the enterprises, coming from labour costs and tax levies. Decline in confidence is chiefly due to such factors as an over 15% increase in the minimum wage and a 10% hike in social insurance contributions faced by sole traders operating in the construction industry. On top of that, large construction businesses are required to conduct Employee Capital Schemes (PPK) or the alternative solution of Employee Pensions Schemes (PPE).

Last year saw excellent results in the office sector in Poland. Demand was a record breaking 1.6 million sqm. Total stock exceeded 11 million sqm with regional markets accounting for 5.6 million sqm and outperforming Warsaw for the first time. JLL summarised the situation on the Polish office market at the end of 2019.

Occupier demand for office space in Warsaw remained robust, with 878,000 sqm transacted in 2019, up by 2% on the peak year 2018. Cushman & Wakefield presented a summary of 2019 on the Warsaw office market.

Israel-based international hotel chain Fattal Holdings has acquired hotels in Budapest and Bucharest, increasing the chain's portfolio to 225 hotels.