A new player has entered the advisory market in Hungary and it intends to become a dominant player on the country’s dynamically growing investment market. Chris Bell, Knight Frank’s Managing Director for Europe talked to Property Forum in Budapest about the new office, promising business lines and the effects of new technologies.

MOL Group has laid the foundation for the new MOL Campus headquarters. The future workspace for up to 2,500 employees will be located on the banks of the Danube in the southern part of Budapest, close to the current HQ building. Construction is scheduled to be completed by 2021.

The first six months of 2018 haven’t been the strongest for the Hungarian investment market but the current pipeline of deals leaves much room for optimism regarding the remaining months of the year. Benjamin Perez-Ellischewitz MRICS, Regional Director and Head of Capital Markets Hungary at JLL talked to us about new investments, rising asset classes and game-changing technologies. 

Airbnb activity in Budapest shows strong growth in overnight stays in 2017, reaching almost 1.5 million, which represents an increase of 35% y-o-y. The top 3 neighbourhoods (District V, VI and VII) account for 69% of the total Airbnb bookings in Budapest, says the latest Budapest city report on Airbnb released by Colliers International and Hotelschool The Hague. All data is directly provided from Airbnb through AirDNA’s authentic source.

M7 Real Estate has recently sold three assets, Innovations Business Park in Budapest, Hungary and Sanitas Industrial Park and Uhrineves Industrial Park both located in Prague, Czech Republic, for a total of circa €24 million, delivering investors a strong increase in value.

Knight Frank formally opened a dedicated office in Budapest, becoming a fully branded Knight Frank business from 20 September 2018.

With investor appetite for newly-built offices remaining competitive there is also a continuous demand coming from investors seeking older, yet sustainably rentable offices with high occupancy – these refurbished offices remain attractive for the active funds in Budapest. This time CBRE has transacted Bluehouse Capital’s Margit Palace sale to Adventum TRIUM Real Estate Fund.

Skanska is investing about €29 million in the third phase of Nordic Light office complex, located in the 13th district of Budapest with a total leasable area of 14,000 sqm. Nordic Light Trio is designed to meet the WELL Building Standard.

Futureal Group signed a loan agreement for €150 million (roughly HUF 48 billion) with a consortium led by UniCredit acting as Bookrunner and Facility Agent. UniCredit and Erste Group will finance Buda's biggest shopping centre with equal parts, marking one of the largest shopping centre-related financings in Hungary over the past ten years. The construction of Etele Plaza, with a gross area of 137,000 square meters, is already underway.

GTC announced the acquisition of a new development project in Budapest, adjacent to GTC Hungary’s Center Point Office Buildings. This new project will be titled Center Point 3 and will add approximately 35,500 sqm GLA of office and commercial space to the flagship Center Point Office Campus.