The industrial sector will remain on the radar of investors due to the ongoing nearshoring trend but development should also accelerate across other commercial sector once interest rates start to fall, concluded speakers of the investment trends panel of CEE Property Forum 2023, held in Vienna.

The interest rate side will be a definitive factor for investments going forward, while investors that have a strong equity base will have more opportunities to snap projects next year, concluded speakers in the opening panel of CEE Property Forum 2023, held in Vienna.

Property Forum published the results of its investment market sentiment survey at CEE Property Forum 2023 in Vienna yesterday. The results, providing an overview of market expectations across the region, are now available online.

While international investors remain cautious, local players from CEE remain actively engaged, opportunistically monitoring the market, and taking advantage of reduced competition. Gábor Zeller, Senior Director, Capital Markets at iO Partners Hungary, talked to Property Forum about key investment trends and shared his market expectations for the rest of the year.

Demand for modern industrial space is still considerably high though European manufacturing companies are not taking home their production as quickly as earlier expected. Meanwhile, Asian firms in the automotive industry are increasingly seeking proper warehouses and logistics service providers. Property Forum asked Máté Szoboszlay, Director of Capital Deployment at Prologis Hungary about the change in e-commerce-related demand and the special needs of Asian tenants.

Commercial property investment amounted to €168 million in H1 2023, roughly half compared to last year, with industrial and logistics accounting for the biggest share of the transaction volumes. 

A recent increase in supply is providing buyers with a broader selection of opportunities across CEE. Martin Ofner, Head of Market Analysis at Arnold Investments, shared with Property Forum his investment outlook for the CEE region.

GTC Hungary and GTC S.A. have entered into a mutual employment contract termination agreement with Zoltán Fekete and János Gárdai. Both have also resigned from their seats on the Management Board of both entities. The resignation is effective as of 31 August 2023. Gyula Nagy and Zsolt Farkas were appointed Management Board members of GTC Hungary as well as the Management Board and Supervisory Board of GTC S.A., effective 31 August 2023.

Savills has appointed a CEO of Central and Eastern Europe. Current Managing Director of the Czech Republic & Slovakia, Stuart Jordan, will take on the role, having successfully developed the Czech Savills business since 2017, including its recent expansion of operations into Slovakia.

GTC has presented strong financial results for the first half of 2023 with €90 of rental revenues, 8% higher than the €85 million recorded in the same period of the previous year.