According to the latest CEE investment report by Skanska, Colliers International and Dentons, the region is expected to keep up the momentum. A favorable economic situation and a very good performance of the CEE cities drive demand for new investments, including in the office market. The office stock has been growing over recent years and now totals 21.8 million sqm throughout the entire CEE. Forecasted completions by 2021 will increase it by another 20% - to 26.5 million sqm. Last year’s investment in real estate markets in CEE reached approx. €13.2 billion, with over €5 billion in the office market.

Investors have adopted an increasingly diverse set of strategies to commercial property investment, ensuring global investment volumes have remained above the previous peak of end-2007 for the sixth year in a row reaching over US$1.7 trillion on an annual rolling basis, a situation likely to continue into 2020.  That’s according to Colliers International, which has released its latest Capital Flows Research at Expo Real.  

Ambitious revitalization plans, a thriving academic centre, nearly one million inhabitants living within its metropolitan area, as well as an increasingly improving infrastructure and extensive transport network are factors that are shaping the image of Łódź as a strong location for real estate investors. However, not only the office market is developing rapidly in the city. According to the report concluded by JLL, the City Hall of Łódź and HAYS Poland entitled "Łódź - Revitalizing a vibrant business and living hub", the residential and hotel segments are also achieving better results.

Bucharest’s modern office stock will increase by over 500,000 sqm in 2019 and 2020. According to Colliers International Romania, these dynamics of the office market could generate variations in the office buildings’ market values of plus or minus 5% during the indicated period. To measure these possible changes, three factors were considered: the average vacancy rate, the level of the incentives packages that owners offer to tenants and yield compression.

Sylwia Toczyska, Director, Client Services at Vistra Poland looked at the withholding tax rules in the country, examining how further clarification is needed and the action that companies may need to take. An article from Vistra’s Global Real Estate Trends publication.

The value of output generated by the Polish construction industry has reached an all-time high level on the back of several years’ investment upturn and it is expected to come close to €59 billion (PLN 250 billion) in 2020. In nominal terms, the market’s value is impressive, but it is less so when one looks at the volumes of construction work being performed and building materials used. A noteworthy fact is that the growth in the market’s value is boosted by rising prices of building materials and higher labour costs.

According to the panellists of the investment panel at CEE Property Forum 2019, sellers have become more cautious compared to last year when they thought the market was reaching the peak and they were going to get the best price possible. Prices, however, have gone up significantly in the last 12 months as the general lack of quality investment products persists in the region.

Property Forum and RICS are organizing the seventh edition of CEE Property Forum this September. Just like in previous years, leading decision-makers in real estate will come together in Vienna to discuss the future of the industry. CEOs, influential investors, bankers, developers, fast-growing proptech start-up founders, architects and valuers will analyse the potential of the CEE property market from a global perspective, providing an excellent networking opportunity.

Poland has maintained its dominant position in the investment market in Central and Eastern Europe with the highest diversity and liquidity of products and diversity of investors. Demand remained high in all sectors, but office transactions were clearly dominant.

According to the latest RICS Commercial Property Monitor, CEE countries – most notably the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania – are still global leaders in occupier and investment sentiment. The Central European region’s most mature market, Austria is on a different path, however, with respondents reporting a broadly flat outlook.