Collies released its 2021 Global Impact Report today, highlighting the firm’s performance and ongoing commitment to delivering resilient buildings, inclusive workplaces and spaces that promote health and wellbeing for its professionals, clients, and communities.

Most CEE economies have seen faster recoveries post-Covid than Western EU economies, with Poland, Hungary, Romania and the Baltics being especially strong performers. However the global inflationary pressures, higher interest rates and supply chain issues, together with the possible recession in China, might impact CEE economies in the second half of 2022 due to their reliance on capital flows from other parts of the world, reveals a report by Colliers.

Investment transactions worth €336 million were concluded on Romania’s property market in the first semester of 2022, up 13% year-on-year, while for the whole year the sector could generate deals closer to or even higher than €1 billion, according to a report by real estate consultancy Colliers. 

After two years of the pandemic, every fourth woman is considering leaving the labour market, says a study by the McKinsey Global Institute. According to Colliers, this can be prevented and easily reversed by the employer by adjusting the working environment and conditions or by investing in the employee's reskilling. It is necessary to consider as such an exodus of women from the group of productive employees would weaken the Czech labour market.

Economic uncertainty is beginning to impact investment activity in Europe’s commercial real estate market, as shown by the data recorded for Q2 2022 in the latest Capital Markets Snapshot for EMEA by Colliers. The Q2 2022 assessment also suggests that the forecast of any impacts will vary widely, with a continued appetite for specific sectors and sub-markets

Strategic investor Hili Properties, part of Hili Ventures, has purchased a controlling stake of 75% in the Miro office building, developed by Speedwell in northern Bucharest, for an undisclosed sum. The remaining stake in the project will remain in the developer’s ownership for another two years. 

The investment volumes in Romanian residential projects reached 4.6 billion lei (€933.5 million) in the first quarter of 2022, which was up 50% compared to the same period of last year, according to a report by real estate consultancy Colliers.

The rise of e-commerce and changing customer preferences have created a new phenomenon: Dark Stores; that is, online retailers delivering goods within 15 minutes of ordering. During the pandemic and the closure of brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce reached its peak. Some e-shops saw their sales grow by several tens of percents last year. In connection with this, demand for smaller, centrally located e-shop locations and warehouses with 150 to 500 sqm of space began to grow, especially in larger cities with sufficiently dense housing.

Romania’s modern industrial and logistics facilities stock reached 5.6 million sqm at the end of 2021, which represents the third largest industrial and logistics market among 15 of the biggest economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). 

Colliers has taken over the management of two office buildings owned by Stena Fastigheter – phase I of Centrum Południe in Wrocław and phase III of High5ive in Kraków. Following Spark B in Warsaw, these are further investments belonging to one of Sweden's largest private real estate companies to be managed by Colliers.