The first 3 quarters of 2020 across the CEE-6 have seen a 37.5% decrease (year-on-year) in overall office investment volumes. With positive news of vaccines due for deployment early in the new year, offices volumes are expected to rebound in 2021 according to a new report by Colliers International.

Evax Holding GmbH, a company owned by Peter Korbačka’s Eurovea Services, has purchased 3,836,988 shares of S Immo AG, corresponding to a 5.21% stake, from Etamin GmbH & Co KG. The transaction, which took place on 12 November, has made the Slovak businessman the third largest shareholder in the Austrian company.

Radovan Vítek and Marie Vítek have resigned from CPI Property Group’s Board of Directors and Jonathan Lewis has been co-opted to the Board of Directors. Mr. Lewis is an independent real estate consultant who practised for 40 years as a solicitor, most recently as a partner at international law firm CMS. CPIPG's board now consists of three independent directors (Edward Hughes, Omar Sattar, and Jonathan Lewis) and four members of management (Martin Nemecek, Tomas Salajka, Philippe Magistretti, and Oliver Schlink).

Cushman & Wakefield has entered into a partnership agreement with building technology advisor Future2. The partnership, covering the CEE region, enables Cushman & Wakefield to advance the development of its property management and technical advisory services by adding deep knowledge of digital building systems.

CPI Property Group’s property portfolio increased by 8% to €9.9 billion compared to the end of 2019, primarily due to the acquisition of six office properties in Warsaw, Poland and a 29.4% stake in Globalworth Real Estate Investments Limited. CPIPG published unaudited financial results for the third quarter of 2020.

After the first wave of the pandemic, continuous communication with tenants has proven to be more important than ever and helped landlords reach solutions in this difficult and unpredictable situation. Yovav Carmi, President of GTC Group’s Management Board and Robert Snow, Member of GTC Group’s Management Board and Chairman of GTC Hungary talked to us about COVID-19’s potential implications for the commercial real estate market and shared their expectations for the future.

Ott Ventures, the private equity arm and fund management platform run by Orco Property Group and MaMaison Hotels & Residences founder Ott Properties, has announced the launch of its first hotel fund, Velvet. The pan-European investment vehicle is targeting total assets under management of €500 million with a planned LTV of 50%. It will invest across Europe with a focus on the main Central European markets of Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary as well as Germany and Austria.

For another quarter in a row, CA Immo has posted a strong operating result and a clearly positive consolidated net income. The organic growth of the portfolio through own project completions and the continuing high occupancy rate of the investment portfolio (95%) resulted in a further strong increase in net result from rent (+10.5% on the previous year). Despite a positive valuation contribution in the 3rd quarter, the negative revaluation result – as a result of the pandemic and its various effects – continues to have a negative impact on consolidated net income. With the addition of a total of three office buildings in Berlin and Munich (including two own project completions and one portfolio acquisition) and the purchase of an office building in Warsaw, CA Immo continued its portfolio growth in 2020.

Six prominent experts gave a 360-degree overview of the regional real estate market in the post-COVID-19 world at the online edition of Hungary’s Property Investment Forum 2020. We summarised the highlights of the discussion, moderated by Tuza Rita, Head of Capital Markets Hungary at JLL.

Immofinanz recorded an increase in rental income and in the results of asset management and property sales during the first three quarters of 2020 despite the COVID-19 crisis. FFO 1 (before tax) was only slightly lower than the previous year at €89.2 million. After an adjustment for the straight-lining of a bond coupon payment in Q1 2020 over 12 months, FFO 1 improved by 10.1% to €92.4 million. The capital measures carried out in Q3 2020 strengthened the equity ratio and reduced the net LTV to 38.4%. The strong cash position of €601.9 million at the end of September was increased to approximately €1.2 billion by the benchmark bond issued in October and an undrawn credit line.