ARTICLES LABELLED WITH TAG CEE

Increasing political risk on a global level has helped investors look past country risks associated with CEE markets and focus on strong fundamentals coupled with solid economic growth. Jeff Alson, Partner and Head of CEE Investment Team at Cushman & Wakefield talked to Property Forum about his expectations for the investment market.

The office markets of Central European capitals are growing dynamically: the number of new leases is on the rise, vacancy rates have hit record lows in several cities and demand for large office space is also growing. In light of all this it is no surprise that development activity is also heating up on the most popular markets of the region. We asked three major office developers to tell us which city in the region offers the most attractive development opportunities, how tenants’ requirements are changing and what makes Central European capitals different.

Investment volumes in Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia and Turkey) reached €7 billion in H1 2017. This is 6% less than in the same period of the previous year.

Central and Eastern European markets are booming and most segments of the property business are growing rapidly, thus providing an opportunity for advisory firms to expand. Jonathan Hallett, Managing Partner for Central Europe talked to Property Forum about Cushman & Wakefield’s plans for the region.

SachsenFonds, a company that manages investments in real estate and renewable energy sources, is changing its name. The new business name EURAMCO stands for European Asset Management Company and reflects its growing presence on international markets. The company was started in 1999 as one of the subsidiaries of Landesbank Sachsen. Today, the EURAMCO Group administers close to €4 billion in approximately 60 private investment funds. In Europe, EURAMCO has three offices: the headquarters in Ascheim near Munich (investment management in Western Europe), in Prague (investment management in Central and South-Eastern Europe) and in Warsaw. In addition, the company also operates on the Australian market with a branch office in Sydney.

Immofinanz recorded a significant increase in net profit to €105.3 million in the first half of 2017 (H1 2016: €-243.3 million). Net profit from continuing operations, i.e. excluding Russia, totalled €113.1 million (H1 2016: €-123.9 million). Rental income remained stable at €114.9 million (H1 2016: €115.9 million) despite the continuing sale of non-strategic properties. After an adjustment for new acquisitions, completions and sales (like-for-like), rental income rose by a sound 4.6% to €92.4 million. The results of asset management increased by 10.0% to €79.1 million, and financial results turned sharply positive at €104.4 million (H1 2016: €-58.0 million). This improvement resulted, above all, from positive valuation effects related to the investments in CA Immo and BUWOG.

It the first six months of 2017 GTC refinanced and concluded loans for almost €400 million through euro bonds offering, project loans and construction loans.

According to CEO Thomas Kurzmann the first half of 2017 was dedicated to advance planning and permitting on development pipeline projects as well as acquisition of enew office locations in the fastest growing office markets of Budapest, Bucharest and Sofia. GTC published its financial results for H1 2017.

The Slovak investment volume reached only €154 million in H1 2017. A number of transactions, across all sectors currently in various stages of the transaction process are estimated to be worth ca. €350 million and should fall into H2 2017, JLL reports.

The volume of hotel transactions achieved in the first half of 2017 was more than €700 million with 34 transactions recorded in core CEE markets. In comparison, 2016 achieved just over €630 million with 20 transactions in the same period, which means an 11% yearly increase. To compare, the western markets experienced just 0.3%. Cushman & Wakefield predicts the year 2017 to outperform the strong results of 2016.