Previous optimism over the prospect of the construction market in the Southeast European region is gone, the Eastern European Construction Forecasting Association (EECFA) reports. The current forecast is foreshadowing almost no growth until 2023 and contraction in 2024. The main reason behind is the worsening climate for construction due to the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The listing value of commercial real estate properties such as shopping malls, office buildings and logistics centres could grow in the short and medium-term in Romania. The increase will be recorded in a volatile context generated by rising building material and utility prices, increasing inflation, as well as the border conflict and the effects of the pandemic, according to Colliers.

What does the future hold for offices? A group of experts, that took part in the first edition of our European ESG Property Forum, claim that the whole industry is switching to remote work and smaller offices located closer to employees` homes. The event was held by Property Forum on June 1st in Warsaw.

Green certificates are becoming the norm in CEE but words like 'excellent' or 'platinum' don't always provide enough information about a building's overall environmental impact. Developers, architects and advisors were discussing the real cases of ESG principles` implementation during a panel at the European ESG Property Forum conference in Warsaw, moderated by Oana Stamatin, ESG Chief Officer at Colliers.

Rents for commercial projects that are being developed at present in Romania will grow in the next 2-3 years, while demand for green buildings will continue to expand, concluded speakers at a panel discussion at Property Forum’s annual Summer Networking Party organised in Bucharest.

Data is key for the execution of a successful ESG strategy, according to the first panel discussion at the European ESG Property Forum conference in Warsaw where leading investors, bankers and advisors provided insight into the topic.

The Slovak construction market is the smallest among the member countries of the Euroconstruct area. Due to its size, it is significantly more affected by both favourable and unfavourable influences. Overall, the private sector contributes more to construction investment than the public sector. With one exception, civil engineering, where public investment is higher. In residential construction private investment exceeds public. This can be attributed to a widely neglected public rental housing programme in Slovakia, writes Radovan Kostelník from ÚEOS Komercia in his study for the independent organization Euroconstruct that unites research organisations from 19 EU countries.

CPI Property Group reported first-quarter profit growth of 243 percent year-on-year to €381 million (roughly CZK 9.4 billion). It was able to do so thanks to its takeover of Austria's Immofinanz, which owns a number of commercial properties. CPI now owns 76.86 percent of the shares in this Austrian company. As a result, CPI is currently the Central European leader in real estate and is planning further expansion with the Austrian real estate company S Immo, where it now controls 42.6 per cent along with Immofinanz.

Geopolitical and economic challenges are not leaving the commercial real estate market unaffected. But how will these major global changes impact the Czech investment market in 2022? This is the question an expert panel, moderated by Mark Richardson (Colliers), at Prague Property Forum 2022 tried to answer.

Immofinanz’s like-for-like rental income rose by 4.3% in the first quarter of 20221, the occupancy rate remained high at 94.4%, and FFO 1 before tax was stable at a very good level of €34.4 million. Net profit totalled €72.4 million, compared with a substantial positive effect in the first quarter of the previous year from the revaluation of the stake in S Immo. With an equity ratio of 52.3% and a conservative debt level with a net LTV of 32.7%, Immofinanz has a strong capital foundation.