Even though all figures available as well as market sentiment point to further growth on the Hungarian commercial property market, its players still keep looking over their shoulders for potential threats to this growth. According to the speakers of the Portfolio - RICS Valuation and Investment 2017 conference, global politics and potentially rising interest rates pose the biggest threat for CEE. We report from Budapest. 

The supply of office space in Warsaw at the end of last year exceeded 5.18 million sqm after the stock increased by 410,000 sqm. BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland experts signal that 650,000 sqm of office space under construction and more than 1,000,000 sqm of additional pipeline projects constitute a vital argument for tenants either searching for new locations or planning to renegotiate their leases.

The amount of industrial space leased in key Central and Eastern European markets in 2016 was the largest ever recorded, totalling 5.7 million sqm. This represents a 25% increase over the preceding two years when about 4.5 million sqm was leased. The strong take-up among tenants was linked with an extensive new development at 2.2 million sqm. The findings are based on the research conducted by Cushman & Wakefield, which has been monitoring the industrial property market in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia over an extended period.

Poland remains the powerhouse of Central and Eastern Europe attracting close to half the capital invested in the region over 2016 as activity grew 5% over the year to €5.2 billion. According to Cushman & Wakefield, with the uncertainty around upcoming elections in major European countries and the ongoing Brexit challenges, Poland and the CEE region will maintain their strong position as a focus for any pan-European investment strategy.

Occupier and investment sentiment continues to be positive across Central and Eastern Europe according to the RICS Commercial Property Monitor for Q4 2016. Hungary and the Czech Republic remain the most upbeat markets, with Bulgaria and Croatia also gaining momentum. In Romania the pace of growth seems to be slowing down, although sentiment and projections continue to be broadly positive.

2016 was a record-breaking year for the Polish investment market and had the best investment performance since the financial crisis in 2009. With over €4.5 billion transacted in 2016, Poland remains the stand out performer across the CEE region, CBRE reports in its latest in research. 

Total commercial real estate investment across CEE (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) reached €4.4bn in Q4 2016, a 27% increase on Q4 2015. This took full year volumes for 2016 to just over €11bn, an 11% increase on 2015 (€9.9bn), bucking the wider trend across Europe and on the continent where volumes shrank year-on-year. Cushman & Wakefield Czech Republic predicts a further growth of the region. 

In most Central and Eastern European countries the commercial property market is heavily concentrated in the capital city and modern offices in secondary or tertiary cities are virtually non-existent. Luckily, that is not the case in the Czech Republic, where there are cities outside of Prague, most notably Brno, that offer attractive opportunities for international companies. Czech-based developer CTP invited us for the opening ceremony of the new Courtyard by Marriott hotel and showed us the city’s property market.

2016 reached the volume of €11.8bn in investment markets across Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, according to a research report by Colliers International. Aside from Poland, investment flows in 2017 will be close to or higher than 2016’s.  The retail sector might see continued rental growth and high investment levels across the region.

The sound global and domestic investment climate generated a major push in property investment activity in Hungary reaching the second highest ever registered annual volume of €1.7 billion in 2016, i.e. 133% up from the previous year. The most popular type of assets were offices with a share of 56%, followed by retail at 25%, while industrial deals accounted for 11% of the overall volume.