The European property sector is expected to grow and bring new opportunities, despite continued downside risks, according to CBRE’s 2019 EMEA Market Outlook report.

December is a time for Romania to score positive results for sales at supermarkets, hypermarkets or discounters as well as for gifts, offering generous returns for retailers in shopping centres and preferring apparel rather than electronic goods relative to other Europeans. The season’s celebrations are a recurring highlight each year for the office segment as well, as both landlords and tenants invest in promoting the holiday spirit.

Market sentiment remains positive across Central and Eastern Europe, according to the RICS Commercial Property Monitor. Strong demand from tenants and investors persists in almost all market segments but the number of signs that some markets have reached their peak continues to grow.

Warsaw is experiencing growing demand for offices, absorption of new space, decreasing vacancy rates, and is expected to see rental growth and strong investment volumes. Next year, the city should further cement its dominant position as a thriving business hub and a regional leader in terms of economic growth and office market maturity. These economic fundamentals show no signs of slowing down, according to a report by JLL.

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.