The average total office fit-out costs in Bucharest increased slightly in 2025 to around €1,000 per sqm, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. However, Bucharest remains one of the most affordable markets in CEE, with fit-out costs 18% and 15% lower than in Warsaw and Prague, respectively.

Pricing adjustments and a more flexible approach from investors are beginning to unlock activity in the real estate investment market. In a video interview recorded at Bratislava Property Forum 2026, Rudolf Nemec MRICS, Partner & Head of Capital Markets at Cushman & Wakefield Slovakia, shared his expectations for the months ahead.

Open-ended fund Reico Long Lease has purchased The Mill office building in Bratislava from developer Immocap, in one of the biggest property deals closed on the Slovak market in the year to date.

MLP Group has acquired a development plot in Vienna's 11th district to build its second urban logistics project in the Austrian capital. The 5,879 sqm site is located approximately 700 metres from Wien Hauptbahnhof, the city's main railway station.

Colliers has appointed Martin Varačka as the new leader of Colliers Slovakia, effective immediately.

CEE's real estate market enters the second quarter of 2026 in a mood of measured confidence. According to Property Forum's survey of nearly 200 real estate professionals from across the region, the majority expect either stable but selective deal flow or a moderate recovery in transaction activity over the next 12 months. Regional CEE investors are seen as the primary engine of dealmaking, while foreign capital is expected to return only selectively. Residential and logistics assets lead on risk-adjusted appeal, and Poland remains the undisputed long-term growth leader. Yet beneath the cautious optimism, one concern towers above all others: geopolitical tensions, cited by nearly two-thirds of respondents as the greatest threat to the market.

NEPI Rockcastle is refining its structure, strengthening its growth engines and exploring opportunities beyond its core CEE markets, while maintaining a strong focus on asset quality and active management. In an exclusive interview with Property Forum, we talk to incoming CEO Marek Noetzel and incoming CIO Anca Nacu as they officially step intro their new roles today.

The CEE-based markets recorded total transactions of approximately €11.8 billion in 2025, a 34% year-on-year increase and the strongest annual performance since 2019, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report.

Real estate investor GTC has leased over 150,000 sqm of commercial space in 2025 across 30 office complexes and six shopping centres in CEE.

At Bratislava Property Forum 2026, investors and market experts compared notes on where capital is actually moving in CEE real estate and what is still holding it back. The opening discussion, moderated by Rudolf Nemec MRICS, Partner & Head of Capital Markets at Cushman & Wakefield Slovakia, made it clear that while activity is picking up, higher financing costs, geopolitical uncertainty and stricter return expectations continue to shape how and where deals get done.