Market players are optimistic of the future of the SEE property market, according to the speakers of Balkans Property Forum 2018, co-organized by Property Forum and RICS in Belgrade, which brought together more than 150 industry experts.

Deals of over €4 billion have been signed during the last five years on the Romanian real estate market, with the most active buyers being investors from South Africa, with a market share of 28%, followed by Greek investors (14%), French (10%) and Romanians (7%), according to an analysis by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, commercial real estate in the first three quarters of 2018 the total investment volume in six CEE countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Russia) reached €8.9 billion. Investment activity in Poland exceeded the value recorded for the whole of 2017 and is expected to reach a record high of €6 billion by the year’s end. The sustainable and solid performance was recorded in Hungary and Slovakia with volumes hitting those in 2017, whereas Russia, the Czech Republic and Romania are expected to close the year at lower investment volumes, slightly below the 2017 levels.

The tight labour market is changing the way developers think. While designing an office building they think not only about who will lease space, but also what they should do to make people want to work there, says Artur Sutor, Partner and Head of Office Department at Cresa Poland.

Talent availability is the primary factor when choosing a new location, according to a survey that Cushman & Wakefield in conjunction with CoreNet Global conducted every year since 2016. C&W surveyed global corporate real estate executives across a variety of industry sectors focusing on their key office location strategies and decision drivers worldwide.

Even though we are currently in the late phase of the real estate cycle, no significant drop is expected in the coming period. Jos Tromp MRICS, CBRE’s Head of EMEA Research shared his projections for the European property investment market at Portfolio Property Investment Forum in Budapest. These were his key statements and predictions.

A fleeting trend or a well-thought-out strategy? Cushman & Wakefield presented a report on the use of commercial buildings’ rooftops.

For growing numbers of employees across Europe's big cities, heading into the office no longer entails sitting at the same desk, next to the same colleagues each day. As more companies of all shapes and sizes choose turn to flexible space – whether its hot-desking areas in buildings they already occupy or taking space in independently owned coworking set-ups - it's fast becoming part of modern working life and a small but increasingly significant part of Europe's office markets. Europe's flex space footprint has doubled since the start of 2015, according to JLL's report. In 2017 alone, flexible space grew by 29 percent, adding around 620,000 square meters.

In their early days, start-ups require a flexible working environment and usually opt for co-working space, which, however, is relatively costly in the long term. That’s why it’s important that they do not overstay there and move forward at the right time, says Artur Sutor, Partner and Head of Office Department at Cresa Poland.

German funds have always been one of the main players on the investment market in Poland and the CEE region. However, in recent years their share in transaction volume has been decreasing. Currently, they stand at around 15% of the total value invested annually. New entrants from the USA, Asia and South Africa have increased competition for commercial property in the region. Poland and the Czech Republic are still the CEE markets of choice for German investors seeking to locate their capital in commercial real estate.