Bulgaria's retail sector has displayed resilience and growth in Q2 2023, with positive economic indicators, aggressive retail park expansion, and stable pricing trends. Despite challenges faced by CEE countries, Bulgaria's economy is on a positive trajectory, setting the stage for a promising retail landscape. These are the highlights of Cushman & Wakefield/Forton's latest retail market report.

Strategic joint ventures and sale and leaseback deals are some of the emerging structures that are gaining ground in the commercial real estate investment industry in the EMEA, shows a Colliers report.

In the first two quarters of 2023, the volume of investment in the Polish real estate market was about €870 million. This result is 70% lower than the first half of 2022, when the Warsaw Hub office complex was sold for a record price. Investment in the warehouse sector accounted for more than half of the volume for H1 2023, with a total turnover of €438 million. Although this result represented a decrease of 34% compared to the first half of 2022, it was still higher than the 10-year average of €425 million, says JLL. 

Rebounding industrial production and easing inflation are helping the Slovak economy to avoid recession. In the industrial market, it is visible robust construction growth and demand surge. The office sector is resilient but vacant subleased spaces are increasing, while the rental rates are stable amid yield increases. Nevertheless, Slovakia's retail sector is facing challenging dynamics as market limitations amplify alongside a cautious expansion trend, largely due to geopolitical and economic uncertainty, Cushman & Wakefield reports in its Marketbeat Analysis for Q2 2023.

It has been a busy year for the European Commission’s corporate accountability initiatives, including updates to the EU Sustainable Finance portfolio. These policy changes, reflecting the Commission’s focus on improving the energy performance of the EU building stock, are consequential for EU real estate investors and developers.  New sustainability-linked financing models and Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) ratings standardisation complement the European Green Deal by directing financing to real estate construction and renovation that maximises energy performance. These programs enable EU real estate investors and builders to collaboratively reduce energy use and meet the EU Climate Law’s 2030 goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by fifty-five percent. Strategic policy and research consultant Lisa Chase has summarised the policy framework for Property Forum.

1.2 billion sqm of space is required globally in the next decade to satisfy the growing demand for the top three ‘alternative’ property sectors, providing a major opportunity for investors, says Savills.

Bulgaria is witnessing a continuous decline in residential real estate transactions for the fourth consecutive quarter. According to data from the Registry Agency, property purchases across the country have decreased by 15% during Q2 2023, reaching  54,371 transactions in total.

The retail sector has been leading the investment activity in the first half of 2023 across CEE, having a share of 35% of the total volume of transactions that reached around €2.02 billion, according to a Colliers report.

The second quarter of 2023 in the Czech Republic was characterized by record industrial construction, with more than 60 percent of it already pre-leased. The vacancy rate rose slowly to the current 1.7 percent, indicating a prevailing market sentiment that sees speculative construction and a recent-record high amount of space under construction, according to the latest analysis by the Industrial Reserch Forum.

Property Forum is excited to join as Media Partner a free webinar organised by the Romania Green Building Council on the topic of "Investing in and Developing Successful Green/nZEB Building Projects in Romania". The goal of this interactive session is to both inform and gather useful feedback from real estate professionals on how to best accelerate a successful green economy transition.