JLL's Office Agency has obtained an exclusive mandate to lease Argentinská Office Building owned by SUDOP Invest in Prague 7. A lucrative office building of almost 10,000 sqm is due to be built in the second quarter of 2019 and offers its potential tenants over 6,000 sqm of offices in 7 floors.

Romanian real estate developer Genesis Property will invest €1.5 million in building an outdoor swimming pool within West Gate Business Park in Bucharest. A running and rollerblading track will also be included.

Belgian developer Atenor is starting its latest large-scale project, Aréna Business Campus which is located in the 8th district of Budapest. The real estate developer, listed on Euronext Brussels, bought the 19,000 square meters site under 30 Hungária Boulevard last September, on which a Class A+ office complex of nearly 72,000 square meters will be built.

JLL has been selected as the exclusive leasing agent for Infinity - an office scheme in Wrocław which will offer over 22,000 sqm of space. Avestus Real Estate and Tristan Capital Partners are responsible for the execution of the investment.

The area of shared offices in Prague will grow by 66% year-on-year. At the end of 2017 the total area was 16,500 sqm, and in 2018 it will increase to 27,500 sqm as the market delivers 11,000 sqm. The majority of these centres have been pre-leased. Shared offices are used in the regions as well. There are 76 coworking centres across the Czech Republic with a total area in excess of 25,000 sqm. According to Cushman & Wakefield’s estimates, the current area of shared offices will double by 2020.

The office vacancy rate has decreased to 7.3%, representing a 0.2 pps reduction quarter-on-quarter - the lowest rate ever recorded on Budapest office market. The Budapest Research Forum published its latest figures.

Companies have rented almost 70,000 square meters of office space in Bucharest in Q1 2018, according to JLL. One-third of the demand came from companies that formerly had their headquarters in old, small buildings or in other different from modern buildings (non-competitive stock). This segment of demand increased compared to last year when it accounted for only 7% of the total take-up.

Futureal Group has started the construction of the second phase of its Advance Tower office building located at the Váci office corridor in Budapest, Hungary. The expansion of the office complex will offer an additional 8,000 square meters of GLA. Advance Tower’s second phase receiving the international WELL Building Platinum Precertification is expected to be handed over in the second half of 2019.

Yareal has received the building permit to construct the first stage of the 65,000 sqm LIXA office complex. Yareal’s biggest office investment ever will co-create the business centre at Warsaw’s Daszyński roundabout.

According to “Occupier Economics: Office Market in Łódź in 2017”, the latest report produced by Cresa, last year’s absorption rate for office buildings in Łódź hit a record high of 55,500 sqm. With office stock at 437,770 sqm, Łódź is Poland’s sixth largest regional office market. The city’s vacancy rate currently stands at 9.3% (up by 3.1 p.p. year-on-year).