The office vacancy rate increased to 13.8% in the first quarter of 2024, representing a 0.4 pps growth quarter-on-quarter and 1.5 pps increase year-on-year. However, the net take-up showed a healthy 25% growth, the Budapest Research Forum (BRF) reports.

Since the start of 2024, there has been a slight recovery in the Bratislava market of new residential buildings. According to Bencont's report for Q1 2024, 285 apartments have been sold.

Real estate investments in Romania reached €205.75 million during Q1 2024, up 33% year-on-year, driven by the retail sector, shows a Fortim Trusted Advisors report.

The Czech property investment market has been quite quiet during the past months. Sales are rare; banks are taking a rather conservative approach to potential investments and transactions, which is coming across the real estate market. The first panel discussion of last week‘s Prague Property Forum 2024 dived into financing strategies and options for market awakening.

The popularity of the residential segment in the Czech Republic has increased among investors due to its stability. The availability of owner-occupied housing is decreasing, and trends are showing different younger generations' lifestyle requirements. According to a C&W report, investment in rental residential projects in the Czech Republic has tripled year-on-year.

Banks and building societies in the Czech Republic have provided mortgages to households in the amount of CZK 18.2 billion (€719 million) in March 2024. The volume of mortgages granted has increased by 15.5% month-on-month. The above information comes from the data of ČBA Hypomonitor, capturing data from all domestic banks and building societies providing mortgage loans.

Last year was a year of gradual recovery in demand and relative stabilization for Ukraine’s warehouse property market. Recall that 2022 was a year of forced demand, with rental activity supported by relocations to safer locations and the search for new premises to replace the destroyed ones. In 2023, the market moved from the stage of survival to the stage of moderate development. Iryna Nastych summarised what happened in the warehouse market in 2023 and what to expect this year together with experts in an article prepared by the Ukrainian Real Estate Club for Property Forum.

Romania saw new construction volumes expand by 64% in 2023 compared to the previous year, reaching also a record in gross value and growth rate from the past decade, according to the EBI Construction Activity Report.

Companies with expiring lease contracts are increasingly preferring renegotiation to move to new premises. One of the reasons is the high office fit-out costs, as the outcome of Cushman & Wakefield’s annual EMEA Fit Out Cost Guide is showing.

Penta has announced its plans to open the first-ever fund for qualified investors. Legal and administrative actions leading to its establishment are currently underway, and details of the structure and functioning of the fund are going to be announced in the second half of this year.