Cushman & Wakefield summed up the first half of 2021 on the commercial real estate market in the CEE region. The investment volume at the end of the first half of the year amounts to €3.7 billion and is nearly 25% lower than in the same period in 2020.

Hannes Wimmer, Executive Director, Loan Syndication at Erste Group Bank AG talked to Property Forum about the segments driving the property investment market and the funding focus of banks on sustainable projects. He reveals that compared to Western Europe, the CEE region is lagging a bit when it comes to financing sustainable projects, but big changes can be expected during the next 6 to 12 months.

In order to sustainably minimize the CO2 emissions and energy consumption of its international property portfolio, CA Immo relies, among other things, on centralized energy management and green building operation.

Occupiers looking for quality workspace in Europe will face tough competition for the best space in the leasing market despite the most active period of new office construction in half a decade, Savills predicts. Newly developed offices set to complete in the region this year will provide 26% more space compared with 2020, says the European Office Development report.

Aurelia Luca, Executive Vice President of Operations in Romania is now expanding her area of responsibility by taking over the Hungarian market as well. 

Companies from the BPO sector may be reducing their offices in North America or Western Europe, but they are taking up more space in CEE at the same time. Yovav Carmi, CEO of GTC talked to Property Forum about issuing green bonds, ESG strategies and the BPO industry.

“An Investment in commercial property is attractive to investors who want to invest their money and generate higher yields. Commercial real estate investments are also becoming more popular with private investors to complement the portfolio”, explains Markus Arnold, CEO of Arnold Investments. This trend led to a strong half-year performance in the commercial sector for the investment brokers. With a transaction volume of about €100 million and 90,000 sqm of space brokered, the company declared a healthy six-month balance. “Two thirds of the transactions were concluded in Austria and one third in our other European branches where further deals are imminent. In most of the deals both buyers and sellers are advised by Arnold Investments”, reports Markus Arnold in greater detail.

SOF-11 Klimt CAI S.a.r.l., a controlled subsidiary of Starwood Capital Group, has decided to increase the offer price from €35.00 (dividend-adjusted) to €37.00.

In 2020, €370 million was transacted in the CEE-6 (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) region. This figure was far below initial expectations for the year (€1.8 billion), as many deals were put on hold or withdrawn, and transaction activity initially brought to a near halt as a result of the pandemic. Most of the volume transacted in the last year (87.6%) comprised deals that had already been committed to before the outbreak of the pandemic.

Colliers today announced that Monika Rajska-Wolińska has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Colliers in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), now including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, effective from 01 August 2021.