The number of employees in Class A and B office buildings in Bucharest has reached about 253,000 at the end of the first semester of 2018, a slight increase compared to the end of 2017. In H1 2018, the number of employees working in companies with headquarters in modern office buildings in the capital increased by 3,000, according to estimates of Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. Considering the office projects whose delivery is announced for the second half of the year, the number of employees in modern office buildings in Bucharest could rise to 270,000 by the end of 2018.

A strong increase in new supply is expected in the upcoming two years, however, most submarkets of the Budapest office market will still face rental growth in 2018. Sustained rental growth for Class A properties across all submarkets - except the Periphery - is forecasted. Rental growth on the Class B market is expected to be more moderate, driven both by Hungarian firms entering the institutional market and multinational firms seeking lower cost office options, according to Colliers International's latest, mid-year office market report.

Globalworth has secured a €46 million loan from BCR, which will be used for developing Connected, Renault’s new HQ in Bucharest.

Poland’s first office leasing transaction based on blockchain technology has taken place on the ShareSpace platform in August 2018. The tenant was Ricoh Poland, a company providing office solutions.

In H1 2018, gross take-up on the office markets of Brno and Ostrava reached 45,600 sqm and 18,900 sqm, respectively, representing a significant yearly increase in both cities.The Regional Research Forum announced the Brno and Ostrava office market figures for H1 2018.

Cushman & Wakefield has published a summary of the first half of 2018 on the Warsaw office market in its latest MarketBeat report. Effects of the existing supply gap are likely to carry into 2020 when large-scale office projects providing a cumulative annual supply of 430,000 sqm will be delivered. As a result, tenants are increasingly opting for pre-lets to secure prime office locations.

WeWork, flexible workspace provider, has become the sole tenant of office space in the Western Building of the Mennica Legacy Tower, a modern office complex being built by Golub GetHouse and Mennica Polska S.A. at the junction of Prosta and Żelazna streets in Warsaw.

Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed on an exclusive basis to sell the Zepter Business Center, an office building at ul. Domaniewskia 37 in Warsaw.

Skanska has acquired the 61-meter Waterworks office building in Budapest. The developer is demolishing the 26,000 sqm office building which dates from 1981. Later on, Skanska plans to develop a modern, visionary office complex in the same location.

The boom continues. At the end of H1 2018, supply on Poland’s office markets exceeded 10 million sqm. Furthermore, 1.8 million sqm remains under construction, with 1.1 million sqm being developed outside Warsaw. JLL summarised the situation on the Polish office market in H1 2018.