Romania ranks 6th in the top destinations in the data centres market in Europe, while the Nordics and the Netherlands occupy the first positions, according to Savills’ new Data Centre Investment Index. The number of data centres is multiplying to accommodate the surging demand for data storage. Thus, the need to have smaller scale domestic facilities to comply with data and privacy laws is set to lead to an uptick in activity across all of Europe.

Technology is changing the world of property all over the world. Here are our 10 key takeaways from PropTech360, Israel’s first global real estate and technology summit, hosted in Jerusalem last week.

The valuation department of the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox has evaluated over 700 properties in 2017 with a cumulative value of €3.1 billion, while estimating an increase of 33% of the valuation volume, to the level of €4 billion during this year.

Political risk seems not to be affecting the performance of CEE markets. Members of the investment panel at the Portfolio-RICS Valuation & Investment 2018 conference in Budapest are confident about the future of the market and view industrial/logistics and retail as the most attractive asset classes.

Digitisation and automation are transforming the property business, not just in Western Europe but in CEE markets as well. 200 people came together at the second Prague Property Forum 2018, a conference organised by Property Forum and RICS, where an international group of speakers discussed the effects of technology on the property business.

Immofinanz doubled the results of operations to €35.5 million in the first quarter of 2018 (Q1 2017: €17.8 million). Rental income rose by 3.3% to €59.0 million. The results of asset management increased by a sound 14.1% to €45.0 million following a substantial reduction in property expenses. Both the results of property sales and the results of property development turned clearly positive: the results of property sales improved to €3.5 million (€-6.0 million) and the results of property development to €1.8 million (€-5.8 million).

International Property Network Inc., the organiser of Property Forum events and the publisher of the Property Forum newsletter, has updated its Privacy Policy to reflect the new standards set by GDPR.

Automation and digitisation penetrating all spheres of life also have a material impact on the economy. Experts of Cushman & Wakefield have identified five key factors that will shape the retail and warehouse market growth going forward.

Market players still look positively toward the future of Central and Eastern European property markets but they are visibly less buoyant than they were during most of 2017. Results for Bulgaria, Croatia and Hungary are the most positive, while in Romania the picture is rather mixed. All data points to the Czech investment market being in a state close to peaking.

Belgrade’s real estate market continues to grow cautiously. Prime yields currently stand at 8.50% for offices, 8.00% for shopping centres and 9.75% for industrial assets, according to JLL’s Belgrade City Report for Q1 2018.