Although anti-pandemic measures were still lingering on the Czech retail market at the beginning of last year, an early return to normal was expected. However, the war in Ukraine has fundamentally influenced further economic development, especially in the countries of Central Europe, including the Czech Republic. The rapid rise in prices (inflation increased by 15.1% year-on-year) and energy expenses were met by a further decline in already weakened customer confidence. How did this affect shopping centres in the Czech Republic? And what is the current sentiment on the market not only among customers but also the retailers themselves? CBRE tried to answer these questions in its annual Shopping Centre Index analysis, which is complemented by two current surveys focused on the development of customer behaviour and expectations on the part of retailers.

CBRE has announced the new role of Zvezdana Milutinović as Head of A&T Residential for the SEE region, effective June 1, 2023. Zvezdana joined CBRE at the beginning of the operations in the SEE region, 5 years ago when the direct office in Belgrade for the SEE region was established.

CBRE South Eastern Europe provided advisory services to BIG CEE in the process of purchasing the Capital Plaza complex in Podgorica. 

Property developer Atenor has named Viorel Lăcătuș as Country Manager in Romania. He has more than 19 years’ worth of experience in real estate, mostly in advisory roles.  

With 17 new brands entering the Romanian market in 2022 and the opening of 11 new retail parks, the total stock of retail projects came close to 4.1 million sqm. On this backdrop, new opportunities appear in the market for developers as the available commercial spaces are mostly rented and the vacancy rate is 3% in malls and even lower in retail parks, according to CBRE.

While the leasing of industrial spaces crossing for the first time the 1 million sqm milestone in 2022, the deliveries of new projects will total around 550,000 sqm during this year, which should take the total stock to a fresh high of 7 million sqm, according to real estate consultancy CBRE. 

While the investment volume will cool this year after the record of transactions worth €‎1.25 billion that was closed in 2022, Romania will remain on the radar of investors throughout 2023, with some trends set to shape the development. CBRE Romania has published a report summarising the driving forces for the local industry this year.

As of Q4 2022 in the Czech industrial market, the extremely low vacancy of around 1% persists. The share of speculative construction has grown to 40% and the modern, developer-led warehouse stock reached almost 10.8 million sqm, so experts expect that it will surpass 11 million sqm by the end of Q1 2023, the Industrial Research Forum announced in their report.

Increase in flexible working patterns brought on by the Covid pandemic has had a positive influence on our ability to juggle these two competing pulls on our time and focus, says Clare Sheils, Managing Director of CBRE in the Czech Republic. She talked to Property Forum about market expectations, the ongoing energy crisis and being a woman in top management in real estate.

CBRE has appointed Daniel Bienias as the new Managing Director of the CEE region. He will take over this role from Andreas Ridder who has been successfully building CBRE’s presence in the region for the last 20 years. Andreas will remain in his position as Managing Director, CBRE Austria.