Flow volume into the CEE-6 commercial real estate markets picked up in Q2 2019, registering a cycle-high €3.3 billion for the quarter. Following on from the weaker Q1, H1 2019 volumes at €5.5 billion were thus just -3% down on H1 2018’s record, according to Colliers International's data.

One year ago, CBRE promoted Luiza Moraru as Head of the Property Management Division for the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). In just one year, the managed portfolio expanded by 50%, and at the same time the team grew, so at age 39, Luiza Moraru conducts a team of over 600 people, being the only real estate consultant in Romania with a regional management position.

Following several successful transactions in Prague (Waltrovka, Rustonka, Main Point Pankrác), the sale of Bratislava’s Twin City Tower marks another major Central European deal involving a Korean investor. Cushman & Wakefield, which over the course of the past few months has helped bring a total of €600 million of Korean capital to the region, summarised the phenomenon.

As global travel is becoming more affordable and accessible, hotel accommodation must also change. Hotels and hostels are no longer what they were ten or even five years ago and are adapting to coworking and coliving trends worldwide – they are more lifestyle-oriented, says Bolesław Kołodziejczyk, PhD, Head of Research and Advisory, Cresa Poland.

28 out of the total of 80 brands that tapped the market in the Central and Eastern European region in 2018 chose the Czech Republic as their destination. As a result, the number of new brands coming to the country remained the same as in the previous year. Poland is a close second with 26 new international brands having opened their first shops there last year. The figures come from the latest comparison prepared by Cushman & Wakefield, which monitors and compares data in the real estate sector across the region. This enables the company to provide a full picture of the developments on the Central European market.

New research from Cushman & Wakefield has revealed European retail park floorspace increased by 2.2% in 2018, reaching a total of 50.1 million sqm, with France and Spain leading the way in terms of new schemes. The report states that 995,000 sqm of new retail park space was completed in Europe last year, down 15% on 2017. A stable development trend is expected going forward, with 1.4 million sqm of new retail park space scheduled for opening in 2019/2020. Nevertheless, quick and easy construction and a growing number of schemes below 5,000 sqm are expected to boost the number of openings.

Although the results of this year’s first quarter have been weaker than expected on the CEE investment market, this does not automatically mean than a slowdown has started. Andy Thompson MRICS, Head of Investment Czech Republic & Slovakia at Colliers International shared his market expectations with Property Forum.

The EBRD is supporting capital market development in Romania with a €50 million investment in the second benchmark-sized €500 million corporate bond issued by NE Property B.V.

Orbis decided on the potential disposal of its service activity (asset light entity) and entered into exclusive negotiations with Accor - proceeding with the Company business model transformation.

Panellists of the CEE investment roundtable of Prague Property Forum 2019, led by Mike Atwell, Head of Capital Markets Czech Republic and Lead Director CEE at JLL discussed the key trends shaping the regional investment market. They agreed that the low interest rate environment is probably here to say but it's very difficult to say for how long.