Exchange Palace the former Budapest Stock Exchange building co-owned by Canadian developer Tippin Corporation and Luxembourg Optimum Fund Management, has received a final building permit and will commence reconstruction works in 2018. The owners appointed JLL & CBRE appointed as co-exclusive leasing agents.

GalCap Europe, a Vienna-based international investment and asset management company, acquired the Central Udvar mixed-use complex as its second property after the Merkur Palota in Budapest. The purchase was made on behalf of a separate account for a German pension scheme, administered by Institutional Investment Partners. CBRE has advised GalCap Europe to purchase the building in an off-market deal. The buyer and the seller agreed not to disclose any purchase price details. Legal advice to GalCap Europe was provided by CHSH Dezső & Partner.

JLL and CBRE have been jointly appointed to lease Budapest ONE Business Park, the new office development project of Futureal Group in Hungary. The two advisors will cooperate on a co-exclusive basis for the leasing of the 68,000 square meter office complex.

2017 was a great year for the CEE property market and the scene is set for 2018 to be even better. However, there are always risks to be wary of. Andreas Ridder, Chairman CEE at CBRE revealed Property Forum his expectations for the CEE investment market in 2018.

The supply of new Class A office space delivered in Bucharest in 2017 was absorbed almost entirely by demand, as per a report by CBRE regarding the office market in 2017, which also says 90% of the office space area completed in 2017 has already been leased.

CBRE Romania has appointed Ana Dumitrache as the leader of the company’s investments department. Dumitrache has recently left CTP Romania where she served as Co-Country Head for 14 months.

The Polish Office Research Forum has published its figures for 2017 for the office market in eight major regional cities in Poland (Kraków, Wrocław, the Tri-City, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Szczecin, Lublin). The market data prepared by a team of analysts includes modern office stock, new completions, take-up volumes and vacancy rates.

Total take-up on the Bratislava office market reached 84,000 sqm in Q4 2017, having tripled compared to the previous quarter. The vacancy rate continued to decline and reached 6.18%. The Bratislava Research Forum published its office market statistics for Q4 2017.

Market Central Ferihegy, one of the largest retail parks in Hungary, and adjacent office complex Quadrum have been acquired by Erste Real Estate Fund. According to Erste Asset Management, growth of the economy and expansion of the retail market in Hungary may facilitate higher rent, representing favourable outlooks for future returns of real estate funds.

Spaces, a global concept from the Netherlands and offering solutions from the area of flexible workplaces and co-working, has leased 4,200 sqm of office space in Centrum Marszałkowska. As a consequence, Warsaw will become the brand’s first location in Poland. Experts from JLL advised Spaces on the process of negotiating lease terms. Baker & McKenzie supported the company in all legal aspects. The developer of Centrum Marszałkowska - BBI Development - was represented by CBRE and Markowska - Materla law firm.