Signa, one of the largest real estate holdings in Austria, said it would file for insolvency on Thursday in Vienna, after one of its subsidiaries took a similar step earlier in Germany.

Immofinanz Group recorded strong growth in both rental income and operating results in the first three quarters of 2023 due to acquisitions, the full consolidation of S Immo and successful asset management. Rental income rose by 79.4% year-on-year to €389.2 million; the results of asset management, at €323.7 million, were even 92.2% higher than in the previous year. The results of operations increased to €209.1 million and sustainable FFO 1 from the standing investment business more than doubled to €214.4 million.

CA Immo has reported a good operating performance for the first three quarters of 2023. The results show, among other things, a significant increase in rental income (+9%) and high income from the sale of non-strategic properties (sales result of €158 million, FFO II +88%), which led to an increase in the operating result (EBITDA) of 129% compared to the previous year´s figure. In total, CA Immo generated a consolidated net profit of €61.1 million, which was around 77% below the previous year's figure, primarily due to the non-cash-effective, market-related negative result from revaluation.

How to invest in challenging times? How to diversify one’s investment portfolio to minimize risk? What properties are investors allocating their capital in nowadays? Marcin Purgal, Senior Director, Investment and Paulina Brzeszkiewicz-Kuczyńska, Research and Data Manager at Avison Young Poland answered these questions and many others.

Property markets in CEE have solid building blocks and the region can attract more investment across the commercial sector, with industrial and private student housing standing out, concluded speakers at the CEE Investment Update London 2023 event last week, organised by Property Forum and RICS.

According to Workthere.pl’s latest Flexmark report, larger companies (101+ people) and scale-ups (21-100 people) now account for 54% of global flexible office members, compared with 42% of members last year. The flexible office specialist notes that this increase is also reflected in take-up levels with these larger companies accounting for 34% of global take-up in flexible offices, compared to 22% in 2022 and just 13% in 2020.

In Q3 2023, the Prague office market grew by more than 60,000 sqm of modern offices. This was the best result since mid-2020. No further similar peak is expected in the next three years at least, as no new construction has started for more than a year. Although investors are placing increasing emphasis on the sustainability of buildings, benchmark rental prices are not changing fundamentally, while landlords are trying to attract more generous allowances or longer lease holidays, Colliers reports.

In this year's 33rd edition of the Cushman & Wakefield Main Streets Across the World ranking, the Czech Republic ranked 19th. The survey compares nearly 50 countries around the world by the level of retail rents on the most expensive shopping street in each country, and for the second time the Czech Republic is represented by Paris Street. It ranks 19th among the world's most expensive shopping streets, 11th in Europe and first in the CEE region. The highest rent achieved in Pařížská, as of the third quarter of this year, is €2,700 per sqm per annum, i.e. approximately €225 per sqm per month. 

In the third quarter of 2023, the European Union investment market exhibited restrained performance, registering a transaction volume of €23 billion which, in turn, represents a noteworthy year-on-year decline of 57%. The cumulative transaction volume for the initial three quarters of 2023 amounted to approximately €80.4 billion, with domestic investors accounting for 53% of these transactions. Markus Arnold, the CEO and sole proprietor of Arnold Investments, observes "a sustained trend where equity-strong private investors continue to be highly active". The leading asset class on the European investment market remained offices with a transaction volume of €24.3 billion, comprising 30% of the total, followed by residential properties (€16.5 billion; 21%) and retail properties (€14 billion; 17%).

Many industry discussions have long chalked up the retail market as an industry in deep recession, with very bleak prospects. According to the participants of the retail panel at the Future of Real Estate 2023 conference in Warsaw in November, the retail industry in Poland is not only not dying, but is regaining vigour and investor interest. The event was co-organized by Property Forum and RICS.