After a year from the beginning of the pandemic, investors are continuing their strategies adjusted to the new market conditions. Most of them are focusing mainly on safe, predictable investments. This year Avison Young has observed the third-best opening ever with almost €1.3 billion transacted in 31 deals during the first quarter of 2021.

Investors’ interest in retail parks in Poland has been growing year-on-year. In 2020 this was the most sought-after retail class, taking up the majority of retail transactions. Their popularity has increased especially in the last year, due to the fact that they remained resilient to the pandemic restrictions,  says Avison Young.

Avison Young has significantly increased its CEE presence in recent months and the company is planning further expansion. Gerry Hughes, Principal and President of Avison Young Europe talked to Property Forum about the firm’s strategy for CEE and shared his expectations regarding the future of the advisory business.

M7 Real Estate, on behalf of its M7 CEREF II Fund, acquired two urban logistics schemes from 7R. Avison Young represented the seller as the exclusive agent throughout the transaction.

Avison Young announces two new strategic affiliations that expand the firm’s service delivery to clients further across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) with the addition of a newly established venture in the Czech Republic and Slavtchev Consulting in Bulgaria. Both will operate under the Avison Young brand and deliver integrated services to local and multinational clients.

Avison Young experts estimate that Bucharest will continue to attract over 40% of industrial developments in the coming years, and then regional cities will recover.

COVID-19 has had a great impact on the economy as well as consumers’ behaviour, which has naturally influenced the property market. Pandemic unexpectedly accelerated changes noticed for the last few years, such as the diminishing role of traditional shopping centres in favour of convenience retail, the boom of e-commerce market or working from home. According to Avison Young, investors have quickly accommodated to new conditions and even despite many uncertainties, investment volume has achieved third-highest level in the history – €5.3 billion.

Mark E. Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young announced a strategic affiliation with real estate advisory and asset management group Limehouse, which will now operate its advisory services in Hungary under the Avison Young brand, while carrying on its asset management activity in parallel as Limehouse Partners.

As of the end of Q3 2020, €3.9 billion have been transacted on Poland’s property market since the beginning of the year. The result is slightly lower than in the years 2018 and 2019, however, it is worth noting that despite the investors’ “wait and see” strategy at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, the outcome is still impressive. As many investors are returning to transactions which were put aside, multiple deals should be closed within the last quarter of the year which has always been a period of intense activity on the market, according to a report by Avison Young.

Atrium European Real Estate has completed the sale of five retail assets in Poland to Metropol Group. The value of the transaction remains confidential. The seller was represented by the Avison Young and JLL investment teams throughout the transaction.