Poland's industrial and logistics market recorded a significant increase in leasing activity in the first half of 2026, according to a new report by AXI IMMO. Gross take-up rose by 21% year-on-year, while net take-up climbed by 58% year-on-year to exceed 2.1 million sqm. Total modern stock reached 38.01 million sqm at the end of June, with developers delivering 1.23 million sqm of new space during the period. Space under construction fell to 1.30 million sqm, down 11% year-on-year and the lowest level in more than nine years, with speculative projects accounting for 38.6% of the pipeline.

Bucharest has placed 21st in the Savills Power and Place Index Top 30, a global ranking that assesses cities with the strongest potential for future data centre development. The index evaluates locations based on criteria including energy availability, telecommunications infrastructure, access to resources and project delivery capability.

MLP Group recorded revenue of PLN 255.0 million (€60.0 million) in the first half of 2026, up 23% year on year, with rental income rising 34% to PLN 149.3 million (€35.1 million). EBITDA before revaluation grew 19% to PLN 126.0 million (€29.6 million), while net profit nearly doubled to PLN 156.4 million (€36.8 million). During the period, the group delivered 219,600 sqm of new space, bringing its total gross leasable area to 1.7 million sqm. Lease agreements covering approximately 97,700 sqm were signed in the first six months, generating €6.6 million in new annualised rent, and the vacancy rate remained below 5%.

Romania's new Territorial Planning, Urbanism and Construction Code (CATUC) is set to reshape the real estate market through two key provisions: the cap on urban planning coefficients and the uncertainty surrounding the territorial infrastructure contribution, according to Crosspoint Real Estate.

Poland's regional office markets recorded total take-up of 307,350 sqm in the first half of 2026, representing a 20% decrease year-on-year, according to data from Avison Young. The combined modern office stock across the eight tracked regional cities stands at 6.76 million sqm, with a vacancy rate of 17.3%, down 0.1 percentage points quarter-on-quarter and 0.2 percentage points year-on-year.

Romanians spent more than €42 billion in major retail chains in 2025, up 5.6% on 2024 and 77% above the 2019 level, according to the Romania Retail Snapshot 2026 report published by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, based on the financial results of 125 companies across 13 retail segments. Retailers recorded an average annual revenue growth of 10% between 2019 and 2025, outpacing cumulative inflation over the same period.

Occupier activity across Poland's regional office markets totalled 310,000 sqm in H1 2026, representing a 21% year-on-year decline, according to a new report by AXI IMMO. Despite the overall fall in leasing volume, net take-up rose 13% year on year, accounting for 59% of total demand, with renewals making up the remaining 41%. Lease transactions signed in Q2 2026 were approximately 1.5 times higher than in Q1, though this was insufficient to offset a subdued start to the year. The largest deals included Brown Brothers Harriman's new lease at WITA C in Kraków (13,700 sqm), Enea Group's renewal and expansion at Business Garden Poznań (11,500 sqm), and Adtran's renewal at Tensor Y in Gdynia (6,800 sqm). The IT, manufacturing and business services sectors recorded the highest leasing volumes.

Across CEE, the strongest investment stories are often found in markets that remain relatively small. Before Warsaw became one of Europe's largest logistics hubs or western Romania emerged as a manufacturing powerhouse, both were characterised by the same combination of improving infrastructure, competitive costs and limited modern stock. Today, a similar conversation is beginning to take shape around Iași.

More than 100,000 sqm of office space was leased in Bucharest in the first half of 2026, slightly below the level recorded in the same period of 2025, according to a mid-year market update from Colliers. Asking rents for existing office space in the Central Business District and other central areas rose by nearly 12% year-on-year to €18 per sqm per month, up from €16. Across the market as a whole, average rents increased by around 3%, while new projects under development are quoting rents 10–15% above levels typically seen in their respective submarkets.

Romania's ongoing energy crisis, marked by record-low Danube water levels and declining nuclear output, has prompted sustainability consultancy BuildGreen to argue that decarbonisation should be treated as a cost management and risk reduction tool rather than purely an ESG obligation. According to ANRE data, hydropower and nuclear energy together accounted for nearly half of Romania's electricity generation in March 2026, yet nuclear production fell by 12.3% in the first five months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025. This pressure arose despite electricity consumption being 3.4% lower than during the corresponding period in 2025.