Continuing the ownership consolidation program started two years ago, Peter Munk, a Canadian businessman, was bought out of Granit Polus. In the new ownership structure, Sándor Demján and his direct management are the majority owners of the group of companies. Sándor Csányi remained as minority owner.

Granit Polus Group has signed a credit agreement of €335 million with a syndicate of Erste Group Bank AG, Erste Bank Hungary Zrt., UniCredit Bank Hungary Zrt., UniCredit SpA and K&H Bank Zrt. in order to refinance existing loans and provide a capex credit line for WestEnd City Center.

Bischoff & Compagnons is about to start the construction of the Alphagon Office Building in the South Buda part of Budapest. The scheme is to be completed in Q2 2019.

Cushman & Wakefield selected Budapest as the location of their Portfolio Services Centre (PSC) solution. The new 1,300 sqm PSC is located in the Studium Office Building, close to Corvinus University and many cultural venues and sights. The team is being led by Byron Tudor who has joined from Goldman Sachs International.

The office markets of Central European capitals are growing dynamically with the number of new leases on the rise and vacancy rates hitting record lows in several cities. In light of all this it is no surprise that development activity is also heating up on the most popular markets of the region.

During the third quarter of 2017 the total commercial real estate investment transaction volume reached some €505 million in Hungary, pushing the 2017 year-to-date volume to nearly €1.3 billion, according to JLL Hungary’s latest statistics.

Total demand on the Budapest industrial market amounted to 122,020 sqm in Q3 2017, showing a 44% increase year-on-year. The Budapest Research Forum published its quarterly industrial market analysis.

The total transaction volume on the CEE hotel investment market increased to €700 million in the first half of 2017 from the €630 million transacted in H1 2016. This represents a yearly growth of 11 percent which is significantly larger than the 0.3 percent growth registered in the western part of Europe. High yields, booming tourism and strong economic growth are the main reasons behind growing interest in the hotel markets of Central and Eastern European capitals on the behalf of international investors.

Demand on the Budapest office market in Q3 2017 increased by 67% compared to the previous quarter, reaching 164,985 sqm. Combined with a marginal growth in supply the vacancy rate further decreased to 7.6%. The Budapest Research Forum published its latest figures.

DHL Express recently moved into its new, tailor made warehouse of 6,000 sqm leased in Budapest Airport's new logistic facility built by Market Építő. Budapest Airport appointed CBRE Hungary for the construction management services.