Karol Pilniewicz, Chief Investment Officer of Futureal Investment Partners talked to Property Forum about entering the investment market, the condition of the retail sector after two years of pandemic restrictions and current financing conditions.

CEE-based flex workspace provider New Work is introducing a new “Space in the Cloud” service which not only helps new and existing tenants save money but allows them to manage their workforce in a more flexible and ESG-compliant way.

Czech businessman Radovan Vítek has amassed a fortune estimated at around €4.1 billion while increasing his influence in the European property sector. Vítek holds firm control of CPI Property Group, the company he founded with assets topping €11 billion and has gradually built majority stakes in Globalworth and Immofinanz, both competing groups in Central and Eastern Europe. By purchasing controlling participations in these companies, Vítek could build his property investment empire across CEE to the tune of around €20 billion and 7 million sqm of developed space, covering every country and asset class in the region. This story is a prime example of the rise and strength of local capital in CEE, in addition to the gradual decline of influence held by Austrian companies over the region.

A large share of real estate professionals globally no longer view office space as being essential for a company to operate successfully. At the same time, increasing demand for flexible workplaces is evident and office space is being repurposed for other uses more and more frequently, according to the RICS Global Commercial Property Monitor for Q4 2021.

2022 has started with a significant milestone for CEE-based proptech company Maxify – the opening of a new office in London, with the UK now acting as its primary legal jurisdiction. At the same time, the company has moved its IT infrastructure to be hosted in the Netherlands.

Based on independent external appraisals, CA Immo expects a positive net property revaluation result of around €355 million (around €3.52 per share) for the fourth quarter of 2021. Overall, a highly positive net property revaluation result of approximately €540 million (around €5.36 per share) is expected for the business year 2021, which will significantly exceed the reference value of the previous year of €184 million. The result reflects the still attractive market environment FOR Class A properties in Germany and especially in Munich and Berlin despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2021, commercial property investment volumes in CEE continued to trend upwards, increasing 6.9% on 2020. However, they still remained 15% below the five-year rolling average. Industrial and office investment activity predominated, and we saw notable evidence of price improvements with yield compression in all segments, but especially in the industrial sector, where the price growth was almost 20%. Cushman & Wakefield has summarized the 2021 investment activity in the CEE commercial real estate market.

Savills Investment Management, the international real estate investment manager, transacted more than €3.4 billion globally in 2021, including c. €2.6 billion in Europe and c. €670 million in Asia. Globally, transactions included around €2.1 billion of acquisitions and around €1.2 billion of disposals, resulting in a net investment of c. €900 million. The firm now manages approximately €24.8 billion in assets under management (AuM) as of September 2021

CTP has completed the takeover and delisting offer for Deutsche Industrie REIT-AG (DIR), which provides immediate scale in Europe’s largest economy. Germany now represents about 15% of CTP’s portfolio and becomes its third-largest market by gross asset value after the Czech Republic (42%) and Romania (21%).

The Q4 2021 results of the RICS Global Commercial Property Monitor indicate a continued improvement in market sentiment across Europe compared to the previous quarters, with progress particularly evident on the investment side of the market. That said, conditions remain polarised at the sector level, with the latest feedback still signalling a challenging set of circumstances for retail while industrials continue to post robust expectations for the twelve months ahead.