At the CEE Property Investment Update 2026 in Warsaw, the focus quickly shifted from headline risks to underlying resilience. Bringing together investors, bankers, lawyers and asset managers, the opening panel examined how Central and Eastern Europe’s real estate markets are being shaped by geopolitical volatility, energy transformation and shifting capital priorities – and why, despite the noise, many fundamentals continue to support long-term investment. Moderated by Dorota Wysokińska-Kuzdra of Colliers, the discussion set out to separate short-term disruption from structural opportunity in a region increasingly tested by global change.

Speaking at the CEE Property Investment Update 2026 conference in Warsaw, Piotr Mirowski, Senior Partner and Head of Investment Services at Colliers, delivered an optimistic assessment of the region’s investment outlook. After two challenging years marked by higher financing costs and subdued activity, CEE has begun to stabilise, with investors adapting to a reshaped market environment rather than waiting for a full return to pre-2022 conditions.

European office costs continue to rise, but companies are not compromising on their demands for high-quality work environments, according to Colliers' Occupier Fit-Out Guide 2026 study.

Central Europe's commercial real estate sector is experiencing a transformation, with Hungary leading the recovery through an 86% year-on-year increase in investment driven by Asian capital from China and South Korea. The CATL factory in Debrecen and BYD in Szeged, along with the planned Volvo plant in Košice, Slovakia, are reshaping the region's industrial landscape and creating demand for logistics space.

The traditional December shopping surge has weakened across Europe, with Romania recording a 20% increase in non-food sales during the holiday month compared to the previous 11 months, according to Colliers analysis of Eurostat data from 2015-2024.

Colliers has published a new report focusing on CEE, examining economic and real estate trends across Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The study shows that 2025 brought moderate economic recovery, easing inflation and rising focus on sustainability, while real estate markets were shaped by modernization, limited new office supply, strong logistics demand and retail park expansion.

Institutional investors are returning to key European markets, and transaction volumes are expected to rise steadily after a period of reassessment in 2024-2025, according to a Colliers report.

Romania's modern retail market continues expanding, surpassing 5 million sqm of leasable retail space in 2025, according to Colliers data. The approximately 190,000 sqm delivered this year consolidated a stock heavily concentrated in Bucharest and five other counties, which together account for almost half of the total. However, Romania remains below regional peers in retail space per capita, indicating potential for further development.

The Czech Republic's industrial real estate market continues its recovery, with 130,800 sqm of new space completed in Q3 2025, bringing the total market size to almost 12.9 million sqm. This represents a 5% year-on-year increase, according to Colliers.

Housing prices in Romania's major cities have increased by 60-90% over the past six years, making apartments increasingly unaffordable in central areas, according to a report by Colliers Romania. Bucharest saw a 60% rise, while Cluj leads with a 100% surge and Timișoara recorded 90% growth.