The latest annual report by specialist business property advisor Christie & Co reflects on the themes, activity and challenges of the previous year and forecasts what 2021 might bring across the hotel investment sector in various European countries.

Though significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts, the hotel market sees activity and interest from hotel operators. In the CEE & SEE regions, they are showing interest in Prague, Budapest and Warsaw, with a number of smaller regional cities – mostly Polish – also making the top 30. Operators are confident about market recovery, predicting that smaller cities will bounce back in 2022, followed by capitals in 2024.

For Vienna-based investor GalCap Europe, last year was a busy one with three additional deals closed compared to 2019. Managing Partner Paul W. Hallam talked to Property Forum about the experiences of last year and shared the company’s investment strategy for 2021.

German-focused investor Aggregate Holdings S.A. confirmed that it may be considering a potential acquisition of a stake in CA Immo, which may also include launching a partial takeover offer for shares in CA Immo in accordance with the provisions of the Austrian Takeover Act.

Globally, there is set to be a 50% surge in investment into commercial real estate in the second half of the year, predicts Colliers International in its new Global Capital Markets 2021 Investor Outlook paper. In EMEA, the momentum continues in the industrial and logistics and living sectors which are less dependent on economic growth. Investors are also particularly interested in core office stock, albeit selectively, with some 32 per cent of respondents looking to invest in the sector.

European logistics real estate markets have not suffered last year from the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to fast-growing e-commerce and higher inventory levels of producers, the total expected take-up in 11 European countries of 23.6 million sqm for 2020 is only 3% down compared with the record year 2019. The forecasts for this year are even better with an expected take-up of 27 million sqm – an increase of 14%. Particularly large logistics real estate markets like Germany, France, the Netherlands and Poland are expected to grow substantially.

For Germany-based real estate investor and developer Trei Real Estate, 2020 was a successful year thanks to the fact its portfolio mostly includes assets that were hardly affected by the pandemic. Pepijn Morshuis, CEO of Trei Real Estate talked to Property Forum about the experiences gained during 2020, changing financing conditions and the company’s plans for 2021.

Three of the five EU countries that registered the highest annual (year-on-year) house price growth in Q3 2020 are located in CEE – Poland (#2), Slovakia (#4) and the Czech Republic (#5), freshly released data by Eurostat reveals.

The stable 2021 outlook for sovereigns in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) reflects their robust economic growth prospects and strengthened ability to carry and reduce debt, which make their credit profiles resilient to the sharp deterioration of their public finances in 2020, Moody's Investors Service said in a report published today. Ageing populations and structural economic change will remain longer-term challenges for the region.

US investor Starwood Capital, through its Luxembourg holding company SOF-11 Klimt CAI S.à r.l., has increased its stake in Austrian company CA Immo to 29.99% in the past few weeks and announced a takeover offer for the remaining shares for €34.44 per share. Starwood also plans to submit an offer for CA Immo’s convertible bonds.