Inflation across Europe is cooling down but interest rates are still at historical highs. Leading bankers and investment experts discussed at last month's CEE Property Forum 2023 in Vienna how their financing strategies were adapting.

The largest transaction on the Czech office market this year took place in Prague. A listed building in one of Prague's most expensive streets, Na Příkopě, was bought from Commerzbank Group by Trinity Bank. The price of the transaction has not been officially disclosed, but it is likely to exceed CZK 2 billion (€82 million), making it this year's largest transaction on the office building market, writes online daily newstream.cz.

Despite the turbulent economic situation, banks are readily lending money to the commercial real estate segment, with warehouses being their top choice. The industrial investor Accolade is one of the most willingly financed warehouse portfolio holders in Poland. The company benefits from over €500 million in bank loans, 40% of which has been acquired since February 2020. At the same time, in the Czech Republic, the company has signed a loan agreement with a club of banks for €137.5 million. It is the largest ever loan provided for a single industrial rental property in the CEE region.

Although real estate development, investment and lending to the sector have taken a beating due to the pandemic's effects on the global economy, according to the results of the latest edition of KPMG’s Property Lending Barometer, property lending has gained an increased importance for banks in 2021, as on the one hand real estate loan portfolios are deteriorating, and, on the other, market conditions continue to gradually improve. Moreover, the tougher times mean that lending institutions within the region are able to pick and choose what types of developments and investments to grant loans to under stricter terms and conditions.

The high inflation rate that averages at 5% across Central and Eastern Europe and its impact on the property sector was debated during the financing panel of CEE Property Forum 2021, Property Forum's first real-life event back in Vienna since 2019 which was attended by over 400 people coming from countries all over the region and beyond.

During the pandemic, banks continued to finance ongoing commercial real estate projects but they are more careful with financing new ones, looking for higher corporate credentials and imposing more restrictive conditions to fulfil. Monia Dobrescu, Partner at Romanian law firm Mușat & Asociații talked to Property Forum about the pandemic’s effects on client relationships and provided market insight from the legal advisor’s perspective.

Péter Számely, Head of Real Estate Finance Department at Austrian mortgage bank HYPO NOE talked to Property Forum about the funding of COVID-resistant property assets and the growth potential of markets in Central and Eastern Europe.

Murapol has restructured its existing debt and obtained a new loan from mBank and Bank Pekao in the amount of PLN 350 million. The developer is implementing a plan to rationalize the financing structure and to support the sustainable development of nationwide operations.

Romanian Impact Developer & Contractor said it has secured two bank loans worth more than €13 million from Libra Bank to start new investments in the Greenfield residential project, located in northern Bucharest. 

The industrial/logistics asset class is presently the most attractive for a majority of banks in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) following the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to results from the latest edition of KPMG’s Property Lending Barometer (PLB), an annual study by the global audit and advisory firm that attempts to measure banks’ lending sentiments in Europe’s property markets. That preference lies in contrast to where most bank finance in Europe has typically landed prior to COVID: the office segment.