The property markets of individual countries are affected by a number of external factors, so it is not evident that they are doing equally well in a small region like CEE. What are the strong and weak points of Hungary's property market compared to other countries in the region? How successfully has it weathered the COVID crisis? What will be the best development and investment opportunities in the coming period? These were the questions discussed by the international investors’ panel at the 2021 edition of Property Investment Forum in Budapest.

Etele Plaza is going to open its doors to the public at 10 AM on September 17, 2021. Budapest’s latest shopping and entertainment centre located in the immediate vicinity of Etele square, Kelenföld will offer a range of stores and services. Futureal’s €300 million development is also the first smart shopping centre in Hungary.

Shoppers are becoming increasingly conscious and are looking for easily accessible, environmentally friendly shopping centres that also have outdoor green areas, a representative survey called "The role of shopping centres in the 21th century" by Westend and Marketing Resolution found. The survey examined the customer habits of people living in Budapest and its suburbs, including how often they visited their favourite malls, what experiences they were looking for there or what products were in highest demand.

ConvergenCE closed the sale of the Árpád Center office building at the end of summer 2021. The property at the junction of Árpád Bridge and Váci Road was acquired by Investum Kft. During the transaction, ConvergenCE was represented by Cushman & Wakefield.

In the first half of 2021, tenants leased over 1.1 million sqm of modern office space across the capitals of the 15 CEE countries. The highest level of activity was recorded in Warsaw (249,300 sqm), followed by Prague and Budapest. The Business Services Sector continues to generate a great deal of demand and occupier activity and is one of the largest employment sectors in the region according to the “ExCEEding Borders - Office Markets & Business Services in CEE-15” report just released by Colliers.

Wing, one of the largest real estate companies in Hungary, is launching a new office development. HOP Passage will be a part of Hungária Office Park (HOP), the complex at the former Siemens site on Hungária körút. With 32,000 sqm of Class A+ office space, this new building will meet environmental and accessibility rating criteria and will offer customisable offices looking out onto an inner garden to its tenants, with flexible terms. Preparatory work is to start in late 2021, and the new building is expected to be completed at the end of 2023.

Gap, the American casual clothing and accessories brand, announced its entry into the Hungarian market through a franchise partnership with Ganeta Pannónia Kft. The brand will be introduced to customers through Gap-branded stores in the country, beginning with the opening of a Gap freestanding store in Etele Plaza in September 2021.

The IN15 Office Park in Northern Pest has changed hands. CBRE supported the seller's side in the transaction. The 19,000 sqm office building’s sale shows that there is activity in the market despite the pandemic.

CA Immo continues its path of selling non-core property assets with the signing of a sales contract for the Canada Square office building (5,000 sqm) in Budapest. The buyer is Hungarian investor Investum Kft. The sale has closed at a premium of 28% to the book value as at 31 December 2020.

The first big tenant has moved into the first completed unit of the HelloParks industrial and logistics megapark located in Maglód, next to Budapest. FoxPost, the operator of the largest parcel locker chain of Hungary, has leased an area of 8,400 sqm and already started the installation of its new parcel sorting machines. With this investment of €1.5 million, FoxPost’s daily parcel sorting capacity will be increased by nearly tenfold.