Short and long-term European rates are expected to be benign for the foreseeable future limiting any negative impact on property markets, despite news of the recent bond sell-off in the US which could signify an end to the very low interest rate environment that has dominated the current property cycle. Strong occupier expansion, low vacancy rates and limited development pipelines have supported a gradual shift in market conditions to favour landlords, resulting in rental growth and stability across the majority of European markets during 2018. This has supported property values and returns, despite yields being at their cyclical peak, a situation likely to continue into 2019. That’s according to Colliers International’s latest Capital Flows Report, released at Expo Real.

What is the size of the e-commerce marketplace in the CEE region? How much more might online sales activity grow in the coming years? What are the implications for the demand for the logistics and retail real estate arenas in the CEE-6 countries? The latest research by Colliers International assesses these key questions that will shape the marketplace for real estate space in these sectors going forward. 

Land in Bucharest continued to attract the interest of real estate developers this year, considering that in the first nine months of 2018, lots with a cumulated surface of over 60 hectares on which around 8,000 dwellings, 180,000 square meters of offices as well as commercial spaces can be developed, according to an analysis of Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Nearly 500 guests from over 30 countries came together at CEE Property Forum 2018, co-organised by Property and RICS. Click here to see the pictures from the event.

Airbnb activity in Budapest shows strong growth in overnight stays in 2017, reaching almost 1.5 million, which represents an increase of 35% y-o-y. The top 3 neighbourhoods (District V, VI and VII) account for 69% of the total Airbnb bookings in Budapest, says the latest Budapest city report on Airbnb released by Colliers International and Hotelschool The Hague. All data is directly provided from Airbnb through AirDNA’s authentic source.

What will be the most well-performing investment products of the coming period? How does political risk factor into investment decisions? How many years of growth do we have left in the current cycle? These are some of the questions that members of the investment panel at CEE Property Forum 2018 answered.

Real estate professionals surveyed by the RICS in Q2 2018 now believe that the Czech investment market has reached the peak of the current cycle while the Hungarian and Polish markets are also close to peaking. Nevertheless, market sentiment is still positive on both the occupier and investment market in all CEE countries monitored by the RICS Commercial Property Monitor, including Croatia and Romania.

Given the dynamic changes occurring within organizations and the evolving business environment, the old office models are no longer working. At the same time, the market, which has in recent years experienced a strong increase in supply on the one hand, and a significant transformation of the labour market, e.g. evolution of work styles, on the other one, is more and more willing to welcome new workplace strategies.

Globalworth released its interim report and unaudited consolidated financial results for H1 2018. The company continued to expand heavily in its core markets, Poland and Romania.

About 10 years ago, Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy would mark the peak of the global financial crisis and would be followed by a deep recession in several parts of the world, including Romania. However, Romania has come a long way in the last decade, with the economy seeing some radical transformations, as well as in real estate; the real estate consultancy company Colliers International Romania sees the next 10 years offering an attractive risk/reward profile.