As the manufacturing sector begins to reopen around the world, new trends are emerging in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research by Cushman & Wakefield.

The construction industry in most of Southeastern Europe will be bruised by the pandemic effects this year, causing a drop in construction outputs. The two exceptions are Croatia and Bulgaria where civil engineering could compensate for the losses elsewhere. Already in 2021, we are likely to see positive growth rates in all 5 countries, according to the Eastern European Construction Forecasting Association

Logistics company FIEGE has recently signed three transactions for 38,600 square meters at Prologis Park Budapest-Harbor, of which 19,600 square meters are new leases, including the just-completed new Building 11 totalling 14,000 square meters. With a total leased area in the park of 59,000 square meters, FIEGE has become the largest customer of Prologis in Hungary.

Cushman & Wakefield’s reports on the Chinese market have shed light on how the retail sector and consumers responded to challenges facing them in the new reality. What lessons should the Polish retail sector learn from them? Daniel Stańczuk, Marketing & PR Senior Communications Specialist, Asset Services, at Cushman & Wakefield wrote about trends on the Polish market and ways of tailoring strategies to the new reality.

The Czech Republic came within the top ten countries around the world again this year in Cushman & Wakefield’s annual ranking based on the criteria such as operating costs including labour and the rate of economic and political risk. The country has regularly ranked among the best destination for manufacturers seeking to locate their operations since 2016 when it was included in the chart for the first time. The ability to bounce back after the coronavirus crisis was rated for the first time this year and the Czech Republic succeeded in this respect as well.

Hungarian development and construction company Market Építő Zrt. has completed its new headquarters in Budapest. The 5,500 sqm four-story office building was designed and built by Market and its subsidiaries. The office building, named Market 6.0, refers to the group's sixth headquarters and is located in Budapest’s Óbuda district, in the immediate vicinity of the previous headquarters.

The works for Speedwell’s newest project, Paltim, will soon kick off in the city of Timișoara. The demolition permit has been issued and the works are set to start in the first part of July 2020.

Cordia International Zrt., as part of its international expansion strategy, has recently acquired 93% of Warsaw listed Polish residential developer Polnord S.A. through a combination of capital increase and public tender offer that was closed on 9 of April 2020. Cordia will first report the effects of such acquisition in its half-year balance sheet but has provided guidance on its positive effects on Cordia’s equity capital.

Arrow Capital Partners, an investor and operator of real estate in Europe and Asia-Pacific, has acquired the prime urban logistics asset, Airport House, in Warsaw, for its $3 billion European Strategic Industrial Real Estate (SIRE) platform. The asset has been sold by M7 Real Estate, on behalf of PVBRI, a work-out investment vehicle created by M7 and a Polish Bank to stabilise and turnaround a financially challenged portfolio of industrial, office and retail investments.

Poland’s real estate investment volume for the first half of 2020 has reached €2.9 billion which is the second-best H1 result in history. €710 million was invested in offices alone during the “pandemic quarter” with the industrial sector registering its best-ever H1 result. JLL analysed H1 2020 real estate investment transactions in Poland.