Governments in the region keep introducing economic aid packages. Property Forum’s daily summary looks at the measures taken to ease the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on households and businesses.

Erste Bank Group anticipates an economic slowdown for 2020 in most CEE countries due to the coronavirus situation. The bank’s report mentions a negative scenario as well, which would result in a massive recession in the region.

CBRE expects the COVID-19 outbreak to have a negative short-term impact on certain sectors of the commercial real estate market. However, the further transmission and evolution of the virus remains difficult to predict.

According to Colliers International’ COVID-19 Insights, it will take until at least Q2 2020 for the investment market to come to terms with what is a very sharp economic global shock and a potentially deeper economic shock for Europe.

Climate change has become a reality and real estate is one of the key economic sectors in this. Buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the EU. So far, the industry has concentrated its effort, although still much limited, on the construction and management of buildings, which could be quantifiable in the green-certified prime office stock. It is therefore critical that the real industry plays its part in reversing the negative trend for the climate and the environment, reveals a new report produced by a team of analysts of EMEA Research & Insight at, Cushman & Wakefield.

A new peak in total transaction volumes of €13.9 billion was reached last year across the CEE region. Including Austria and Serbia, the volume is even greater: €20.19 billion, according to CBRE’s latest research.

Redevco aims to grow its mandates and portfolio to €10 billion by 2025 from €7.5 billion currently, by launching a drive into new real estate sectors beyond retail. Third-party investors now comprise 40% of Redevco’s capital base at €2.8 billion, compared with zero six years ago. The company is extending the opening of its investment platform to like-minded investors and will consider a variety of investment vehicles to broaden its investor base, with an initial focus on joint ventures.

Due to the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus situation Property Forum has decided to reschedule its spring events – Bratislava Property Forum, SEE Property Forum and Prague Property Forum – to autumn 2020.

Allianz announced its intention to combine the strengths of PIMCO, one of the world’s premier fixed income investment managers, and Allianz Real Estate, the captive real estate specialist with more than €70 billion of assets under management. This organic move is proposed to strengthen its Alternatives capability by creating one of the world’s most preeminent real estate managers. It will manage over €100 billion in core, value-add and opportunistic real estate across Europe, the US and the Asia-Pacific Region.

Poland is a major target for international capital with investment volumes in 2019 accounting for 55% of the CEE6 total. The Czech Republic followed with a 24% share and Hungary with 13%. Elsewhere in the region, volumes fell short of 2018 & 2017 volumes. Despite record low yields in most markets and sectors, some further yield compression is anticipated over the next 12 months as strong levels of capital seek product and returns. Colliers International published its investment market summary for 2019.