According to CEO Thomas Kurzmann the first half of 2017 was dedicated to advance planning and permitting on development pipeline projects as well as acquisition of enew office locations in the fastest growing office markets of Budapest, Bucharest and Sofia. GTC published its financial results for H1 2017.

The Slovak investment volume reached only €154 million in H1 2017. A number of transactions, across all sectors currently in various stages of the transaction process are estimated to be worth ca. €350 million and should fall into H2 2017, JLL reports.

Real estate investment flows into the Central & Eastern European region rose 17% year-on-year in the first half of 2017 to €5.4 billion, putting 2016’s cycle high of €12.2 billion well in 2017’s range, according to Colliers International’s latest report.

After spectacular 2016 economic results and a record-breaking FDI level of €4.1 billion, Romania’s prospects for 2017 look very promising. Bucharest, a specialized IT hub in the CEE region, has recently welcomed several new global brands such as Fitbit and the Coface Group. This influx has boosted the city’s office sector and is making Romania's capital city an attractive destination for investment funds. The yield spread between Western and even other CEE markets is still significant, with prime office yields in Bucharest at around 7.25%.

Investor appetite on the Polish real estate market in Q2 2017 has translated into high transaction volumes which stood at approximately €1 billion. The retail sector accounted for 80% market share of capital invested in Q2, mainly resulting from large portfolio acquisitions. If pending deals conclude, the year-end result should be close to €4.2-4.4 billion, which would be similar to the record of 2016.

Total real estate investment in Europe reached €74 billion in Q2 2017, representing a 25% increase on the same period last year, according to CBRE. Central Europe as a region proves to be more attractive to international investors than last year with Hungary accounting 15% of the overall investment volume.

7 million citizens of the CEE-6 countries reside in Western Europe and the return of even a relatively small portion of these would boost regional GDP, stimulating the development of real estate markets, says Colliers International in its latest research report "Labour Force Boomerang"

According to Savills, the total volume of commercial property investment transactions concluded Q2 2017 in Poland exceeded €1 billion. Investor activity is high, driven mainly by portfolio transactions. 

On 19 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 & 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. 

The residential and office markets have received the lion's share of attention in Budapest recently, but the retail market is also gaining more interest from both tenants and investors. Tourism is booming, domestic purchasing power is growing and the only thing that can hinder growth is the lack of available space and new developments on the market.