By the end of H2 2017 space under construction by Echo Investment increased to over 1 million sqm, from 677,000 sqm at the end of 2016. According to its latest financial report, the company is moving forward with a number of residential, office and retail developments.

JSE listed Echo Polska Properties (EPP) released its interim results for the six-month period ended June 2017. During the period EPP successfully concluded €262 million in acquisitions, boosting the portfolio to €1.7 billion.

On 19th September 2017 the fifth edition of CEE Property Forum, organized by Property Forum in partnership with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) will gather leading real estate professionals and top executives from Central and Eastern Europe to analyse the potential of the regional real estate market from a global perspective. 70 speakers and more than 400 visitors will come together in Vienna, creating a unique networking opportunity.

Occupier and investment sentiment remains positive across all Central and Eastern European countries tracked by the RICS Commercial Property Monitor. Results for Q2 2017 show that Hungary and the Czech Republic continue to post the strongest overall results. The vast majority of respondents expect new investors to enter the market with the presence of local and CEE investors predicted to increase across the region in the year ahead.

Investment volumes in Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia and Turkey) reached €7 billion in H1 2017. This is 6% less than in the same period of the previous year.

Immofinanz recorded a significant increase in net profit to €105.3 million in the first half of 2017 (H1 2016: €-243.3 million). Net profit from continuing operations, i.e. excluding Russia, totalled €113.1 million (H1 2016: €-123.9 million). Rental income remained stable at €114.9 million (H1 2016: €115.9 million) despite the continuing sale of non-strategic properties. After an adjustment for new acquisitions, completions and sales (like-for-like), rental income rose by a sound 4.6% to €92.4 million. The results of asset management increased by 10.0% to €79.1 million, and financial results turned sharply positive at €104.4 million (H1 2016: €-58.0 million). This improvement resulted, above all, from positive valuation effects related to the investments in CA Immo and BUWOG.

It the first six months of 2017 GTC refinanced and concluded loans for almost €400 million through euro bonds offering, project loans and construction loans.

The Czech Republic has become the top performer of the Central European region in terms of the volume of investment that has flowed into commercial real estate since the beginning of 2017. Unlike the preceding years when Poland was the clear number one, the largest amount has been invested in the Czech Republic, even though the country’s market is roughly one half the size of its larger neighbour’s market. 

Real estate activity during the first half of 2017 was very dynamic in Bucharest as well as throughout Romania. New deliveries, extensions and transactions have led to considerable growth in the main sectors – industrial, retail, office and investment. According to Colliers International, the upward trend will continue for the remainder of the year and will be doubled by new demands.

AFI Europe Romania published its Q2 and H1 2017 financial results, generating a Net Operating Income (NOI) from its income producing assets in Romania of €12.5 million in Q2 and close to €25 million in H1, representing respectively 10.4% and 11.5% higher results compared to the same periods in 2016.