In the Serbian economy, the construction industry has been one of the sectors least affected by COVID-19, with only smaller decrease recorded in production volumes and logistical capacity. The Eastern European Construction Forecasting Association has published a COVID-19 update on the construction sector of Serbia.

COVID-19’s direct impact on ongoing construction activity in Romania has been minimal since no restrictions were in place specifically targeting construction works. Several indirect factors, however, are expected to limit the amount of construction activity. The Eastern European Construction Forecasting Association has published a COVID-19 update on the construction sector of Romania.

The industrial market in Poland has been growing at a very quick pace for several years, with record-breaking transaction sizes, new warehouse locations and growing net take-up levels. The focus of analysts is usually on demand as everything starts from tenants looking for warehouse and manufacturing space for their business operations. The warehouse market has been led in recent years by the e-commerce industry, which has been reporting annual growth of over 20%. However, other leading sectors are still logistics and distribution, household appliances, the automotive sector and manufacturing. Experts from Cushman & Wakefield summarised what is the impact of investment funds on the industrial market and why warehouses attract investors.

Since the start of this year, Penta Real Estate has closed the sale of three office buildings in its portfolio. After selling Rosum in Bratislava, the company completed a transaction in Poland within a single month by selling the office complex D48 and the office building BCT1 in Košice.

Atrium European Real Estate published an update on trading for the three months ended 31 March 2020 and an update on trading in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. A progressive reopening has been launched from 4 May in Poland and is planned from 11 May in the Czech Republic and 3 June Slovakia, although it is too early to say when the company’s assets will return to full operation.

The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak seems to be having a severely negative impact on market sentiment across the CEE region, according to the latest RICS Commercial Property Monitor. Q1 2020 figures show that both rental and capital value expectations have been downgraded across the region with retail expected to see the sharpest decline and industrial proving to be the most resilient asset class.

The coronavirus outbreak continues to affect people and economies deeply. In the latest online panel organized by Property Forum, three real estate professionals discussed the impacts of the coronavirus crisis on the Bulgarian property market.

Rental growth and yield compression eased across Europe’s commercial real estate markets in Q1 2020, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest DNA of Real Estate.

Property Forum’s latest online panel focused on the effects of COVID-19 on alternative asset classes such as student housing and build-to-rent. European investors, regional experts and local developers discussed how the popularity of alternative assets among investors might change once the crisis is over.

In the fourth instalment of a series of reports about COVID-19 and the implications for logistics real estate, Prologis Research looked at customer resilience amid high economic volatility and concluded that diversity of the company client base is a key factor in insulating the portfolio in turbulent market conditions.