According to Dr Aleš Pustovrh at the EECFA, which conducts research on the construction markets of 8 Eastern European countries, residential construction boom in Slovenia continues and is set to peak this year. Nevertheless, with increasing interest rates on mortgage loans, residential construction will be facing significantly lower demand in the second half of 2023.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine has led to huge destruction, the volume of construction waste has reached a critical level and continues to increase. Iryna Nastych summarised the situation in an article prepared by the Ukrainian Real Estate Club for Property Forum.

Communication consultancy Șerban & Musneci Associates has launched SMA Real Estate Kluster, a new division that is exclusively dedicated to the Romanian property market. 

The planned Highest Construction Office (Nejvyšší stavební úřad) and the system of regional construction offices subordinate to it will not be established in the Czech Republic. The construction authorities will remain within the municipalities, the Czech News Agency (ČTK) reports.

Progress on ESG in the real estate industry has been seen since 2018 and sustainability considerations are shaping investment strategies and client demand, concluded speakers of the ESG in real estate panel of Romania ESG Forum 2023, organised by Green Forum and Property Forum last week in Bucharest.

Analysts at Bencont Investments have recorded sales of only 197 apartments in new buildings in Bratislava in Q1 2023. According to them, the unit price of available apartments remained at €4,900/sqm. In Q1, the supply consisted of as many as 3,229 vacant apartments in new buildings. Realisation prices increased by 20% year-on-year, but there was a 1.43% quarter-on-quarter decrease. Q1 2023 was thus still marked by weakening demand, according to the quarterly real estate market analysis of Bencont.

Property Forum is happy to announce the third edition of its annual listing of the 50 most influential people on the Romanian market. To access the publication, click here.

The commercial real estate market was generally characterised by favourable trends in H1 2022, but in the latter half of the year, risks associated with the business cycle increased in Hungary. Vacancy rates have increased since and are expected to go up for the rest of this year, the Hungarian Central Bank (MNB) reports.

As a result of a legal dispute between real estate tycoon Radovan Vítek's CPI Property Group and businessmen Marek Čmejla and Jiří Diviš, a Cypriot court has reportedly ordered banks to freeze CPI Property Group's assets worth almost CZK 13 billion (€553 million), according to the German economic newspaper Handelsblatt, cited by the Czech daily Hn.cz. CPIPG, however, denies the German newspaper's information, saying that the interim measure is not in force and that no accounts have been seized or assets were frozen.

According to speakers of Bratislava Property Forum 2023, many investors are in the price discovery phase, waiting to see what’s next. Nevertheless, during the debate, participants mentioned many inspiring possibilities that could drive investors to the Slovak market.