After the great year in 2019 and a very good start to 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has halted the expansion of Asian investment funds in Poland. However, analysts are convinced that it is just a temporary situation and a new transaction closed this month also suggests that the flow of Asian capital has not dried up.

Due to the pandemic, the construction industry in Hungary last year registered a significant fall and the last quarter couldn’t save the year either. The latest EBI Construction Activity Report has found that Q4 2020, similarly to the low-value Q4 2019, saw the start of construction works at a value of HUF 442 billion. Owing to the massive drop in mid-2020, 15% less construction work started than in 2019 and 30% less than in 2018. In 2020 the Activity Start Indicator of the EBI Construction Activity Report accounted for less than HUF 2000 billion and the decline affected all major subsectors.

Attila Kovács, who founded DVM Group in 1995 and Horizon Development in 2006, passed away in February 2021, the two companies announced.

Based on independent external appraisals, CA Immo expects a property valuation effect of approx. €205 million (€2.07 per share) for the fourth quarter. The increase in value will more than compensate for the valuation loss of €21.5 million (€0.22 per share) booked in the first three quarters of 2020.

The total investment volume achieved in 2020 in the SEE region amounted to €766 million representing a 17% decline in transaction volume in comparison to the year before, according to CBRE’s market report summarising H2 2020 on the investment market.

Although the Czech Republic spent Q4 in a state of emergency, with borders being more closed more often than open towards the year’s end, the Czech real estate investment market finished on less than record-breaking results but, considering the challenging year, it was far from being bad, according to Colliers International’s latest investment market report.

Total commercial real estate investment into the Slovak market amounted to €502 million in 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 27%, according to Cushman  & Wakefield’s market reports for Q4 2020.

The MBARE programme (MBA – Real Estate Investment, Development and Valuation) taught at the Prague University of Economics and Business, after only three years of operation, has been accredited by the international organization RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) for the field of commercial real estate and real estate valuation. It is the only accredited MBA programme of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe.

Property investment volumes for the CEE region totalled €10.4 billion in 2020, 24% below 2019 levels. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary all saw year-over-year declines in volumes. Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria all saw increases. By comparison, EMEA  volumes are estimated to be down by ca. 27% YoY but Colliers’ latest reports indicates a strong rebound in 2021. Investor appetite remains strong for 2021 for the CEE region but will continue to be challenged by available product and the varying impact of COVID on certain sectors.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, dealmakers are broadly positive about the prospects for M&A in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (CEE/SEE), according to a new survey from Wolf Theiss and Mergermarket. Just over half (52%) of respondents said that the health crisis will increase their appetite for deals in the next 12 months.