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.

Hungary-based Alfa Group plans to raise approximately HUF 10 billion in its first Green Bond issue scheduled for October 2021. Ohad Epschtein, Managing Partner of Alfa Group International talked to Property Forum about the importance of sustainability and he also shared some details about the company’s expansion strategy.

Accor announced the signing of the first Tribe hotel in Hungary in partnership with local real estate developer Futureal. The 250-room Tribe hotel will open in Budapest at the end of 2023. The project is a major milestone in Futureal’s operation as part of its new business line focusing on hotel developments.

Geis Logistics Hungary Kft., the local representative of the German-based transport and logistics company has signed a lease agreement for a custom-built production facility at CTPark Vecsés, near Budapest. The Geis Group will store Knorr-Bremse Systeme products in the new almost 16,000 square meters logistics facility with extra features related to the braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles produced by Knorr-Bremse Group.

Rents continued to rise in June 2021, increasing by 1.6% nationally and by 1.8% in Budapest compared to the previous month, the latest KSH-ingatlan.com rent index shows. Supply prices were also slightly higher than in the same period last year, something not seen for more than a year. Of all the district groups in Budapest, prices stagnated only in the outer districts of Pest, while the largest price increase (2.8%) on the previous month was recorded in the transitional districts of Pest.