Search engines have become an integrated part of the daily life of people and companies as well. Not only the process of buying a book or planning a vacation has changed drastically over the last decade but companies looking for office space are also turning to the Internet more often. The latest Tea & Talk session, co-organised by RICS Hungary and VLK Cresa in Budapest, helped us understand how changes in technology will affect brokers, tenants and landlords.

The property management and (property and SPV) accounting of Váci Greens’ Building C, acquired by ZFP Investments, acting on behalf of the ZFP realitní fond, a Czech real estate fund entering the Hungarian commercial real estate market, is now performed by CBRE.

At the end of last year Colliers sold the former Bricostore DIY-unit in Törökbálint to Régió, a Hungarian toy company. The building has approx. 12,000 sqm of GLA and will be used by Régió for warehousing purposes.

Nearly 100,000 sqm of new office space was delivered to the Budapest market in 2016, the highest figure since 2010. Meanwhile, demand picked up in the last quarter of the year with a large share of the total leasing volume made up of pre-leases and new transactions. At the same time, the office vacancy rate has returned to its downward trajectory, reaching 9.5%, the lowest rate on record.

In Q4 2016 total leasing activity amounted to 133,460 sqm on the Budapest industrial market which marks a 64% rise on a yearly basis. Meanwhile, the vacancy rate reached a new post-crisis low at 8.1% and there is currently no scheme offering more than 10,000 sqm available adjacent space. The Budapest Research Forum published its quarterly industrial market analysis.

CA Immo has completed negotiations with Union Investment Real Estate GmbH on acquiring 49% of shares each in the office buildings Danube House in Prague and Building A of Infopark in Budapest, both so far part of the open-ended property fund UniImmo: Europe. The deal, which has already been closed, will make an immediate positive contribution to long-term profitability by around €3 million.

W Hotels Worldwide, part of Marriott International, announced an agreement with QPR Properties Kft, part of Constellation Hotels Holding Ltd., to debut the W Hotels brand in Hungary with the opening of W Budapest. Located on Andrássy Road, the hotel will be situated directly across from the State Opera House, businesswire.com reports.

TriGranit appointed the Hungarian office of CBRE with the exclusive leasing of its latest development in Budapest. The Millennium Gardens office building is being constructed alongside the Palace of Arts and the National Theatre, on the Danube side of Soroksári Road. It will offer 37,000 sqm of leasable space and it is expected to be completed by 2019. 

Prologis has announced that Prologis European Properties Fund II (PEPFII) has acquired M0 Central Business Park in Hungary from IDI Gazeley. Two newly acquired, 100 percent let, facilities totalling 31,443 square metres will become part of the adjoining 98-percent let Prologis Park Budapest-Sziget, which currently comprises seven buildings totalling 150,000 square metres.

Hotel capacities in Hungary will grow by approximately 2,000 rooms over the next two years, which corresponds to 4,000 new hotel beds, so Hungary and in particular Budapest will be prepared to meet the tourism challenges of coming years, according to KPMG's latest analysis.