GTC Bulgaria is welcoming a new tenant on board – fast-growing software company Gtmhub, which will lease 1,700 sqm in Advance Business Centre I. Moreover, one of GTC’s anchor tenants extended the lease in Mall of Sofia Tower for another five years.

Danny Bercovich was promoted to Regional Director of Retail of GTC. Previously, he has served the company as the CEO of GTC in Bulgaria and Romania. In the new role, Mr Bercovich will steer the company’s operations and growth strategy in the retail segment.

According to Yasen Georgiev from EPI, EECFA Bulgaria, like elsewhere in the EECFA countries that are not directly impacted by the war in Ukraine, the construction market in Bulgaria entered a period of an increasing unpredictability. What stands behind is an interplay between domestic and external factors.

Avalant has become JLL's exclusive partner for the office and investment property market in Bulgaria. JLL carried out a tender process, in which several local consultancy companies were invited and Avalant emerged as the selected partner. The collaboration will be made directly with colleagues from JLL Romania.

Real estate consultancy Colliers has appointed Oana Stamatin as ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Chief Officer in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). 

Romania is expected to see only moderate growth on the horizon. Serbia, having recorded the biggest expansion of almost 100% in the 2014-2020 period, is foreseen to plateau in the upcoming years, according to the Eastern European Construction Forecasting Association’s 2021 Winter Construction Forecast Report.

SAP is acquiring the newly built Class A office building Park Lane Office Center in Sofia for €49 million. The purchase price is equivalent to a 7.5% asset yield. This is the largest investment deal on the Bulgarian office property market so far in 2021

CTP has recently finalised two strategic acquisitions in Bulgaria as part of its two-year, €300 million expansion plan to further grow its presence in the country.

In the first year of the pandemic, the construction market of the SEE region as a whole remained in the positive, and further expansion is expected until 2023. The only exception is Bulgaria where a harsh transition is foreseen for 2023 when the 2014-2020 EU programming period ends financially. The massive growth experienced in the years before 2020 is not anticipated to return. around 3% growth is projected for 2021 and 2022, and a 3% drop for 2023. The countries with the largest cumulated growth on the forecast horizon are Croatia and Serbia, according to the Eastern European Construction Forecasting Association’s 2021 Summer Construction Forecast Report.

Commercial property is viewed as having below-average risk levels in most CEE countries. Revenues from different asset classes are expected to recover to pre-COVID levels most rapidly in Poland, according to the RICS Global Commercial Property Monitor for Q1 2021.