Prologis has announced its second quarter activity in Central and Eastern Europe. The company leased more than 400,000 square metres of distribution space, an increase of more than 7 percent over the same period last year. Demand continues to be driven by reconfiguration of the supply chain and e-commerce.

Robust commercial real estate investment activity continued in Q2 2016 across the core Central European markets and reached EUR 2.6 billion, a 56% increase on Q1, according to Cushman & Wakefield. This has pushed volumes over the last twelve months to EUR 9.3 billion, close to 2007 record levels. 

According to Cushman & Wakefield, robust commercial real estate investment activity in the core Central European markets of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania continued in the second quarter of 2016 and reached EUR 2.6 billion, a 56% increase on Q1. This has pushed volumes over the last twelve months to EUR 9.3 billion, close to 2007 record levels.

Immofinanz recorded net profit of EUR -390.4 million for the 2015/16 financial year (2014/15: EUR -376.6 million). The year-on-year decline resulted primarily from EUR -469.8 million of negative effects from the foreign exchange-adjusted valuation of the Russian portfolio and from a decrease in rental income to EUR 314.5 million (2014/15: EUR 385.6 million) which was caused by temporary rent reductions in Moscow and the planned sale of properties.

An expanding BPO/SSC sector does not just boost the economy but the construction market as well. Investment funds and real estate agencies point out that in CEE there is still a need for prime offices, shopping centers and logistics infrastructure. Skanska, JLL and Dentons, in cooperation with ABSL have published their latest CEE Investment Report 2016: Mission to Outperform.

Commercial real estate investment remained strong across Europe in Q2 2016 totaling €54.0 billion, up 2.5 per cent on Q1 2016 and 30.4 per cent on the ten year average. Investment into CEE countries for H1 2016 registered a substantial increase (59%) compared to same period of last year, reaching almost €5 billion. Expectations are that for the entire year, investment volumes will reach and exceed the record volumes of 2015, with all CEE countries expected to perform strongly.

Mitiska REIM, an investor specialised in European retail parks, has tannounced the successful second closing of its First Retail International 2 Fund (FRI 2) close to €190 million, significantly exceeding its original target of €120 to 150 million.  Allowing for gearing of 50%, the Fund’s gross investment capability is now close to €400 million.

Two-thirds of real estate markets globally have shown progress in levels of transparency over the past two years, according to JLL and LaSalle Investment Management’s 2016 Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI). The ten countries identified as “Highly Transparent” by GRETI account for 75 percent of global investments into commercial real estate, highlighting the extent to which market transparency drives real estate investment decisions. Poland registered an excellent result in this year’s index and stands just outside the top ten, while other countries in the CEE region have also improved their results.

Last Thursday the United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union which has triggered panic on financial markets. Players of the property market are also in shock all over Europe, eager to find out what Brexit means for the future of their investments. 

2016 could be the first year that European office employment levels surpass the previous peak of 2008, according to Colliers International’s latest research ‘EMEA Offices: Is Flexibility the Future?’. The report shows that office-based employment levels in the EU have grown by 5 million, representing a 4.3 per cent increase over the last 10 years and surpassing the previous peak of 2008.