The first half of the “pandemic year” was most difficult for retail players, considering the lockdown during the emergency state, but the recovery up until July has been better than most market participants were initially expecting, according to Colliers International’s market report for the first semester of 2020. In the industrial & logistics area, it has been business as usual during the pandemic, with some seeing big spikes in activity, but a significant pipeline of speculative developments and a competitive market are tilting the balance in favour or tenants.

CEE investment volumes for the first half of 2020 reached ca. €6.26 billion. This figure was boosted by two large portfolios totalling in excess of €2.2 billion, with Poland and the Czech Republic taking a 78% share of the CEE-6 total. According to Colliers International's latest report, investor appetite remains strong for CEE but a cautious approach is still being applied as markets try to settle. 

The first half of the “pandemic year” closed with a total value of investment transactions worth €408 million in Romania, around 18% above the first semester of 2019, with office assets accounting nearly 86% of volumes, according to Colliers International’s market report. Still, the outlook is uncertain since several large big-ticket items have either been frozen or fell through. On the opposite pole, the local land market continues to see deals closing and significant interest.

At the end of Q2 2020, total modern office stock in the eight regional Polish cities amounted to 5.6 million sqm. The largest regional office markets are Kraków (1,483,300 sqm), Wrocław (1,186,100 sqm) and the Tri-City (868,400 sqm).

Colliers International represented the Deichmann Group in the renegotiation of a lease agreement for 13,000 sqm of modern warehouse space in Prologis Park Wrocław III and in expanding by an additional 7,000 sqm. 

CEE’s highly skilled and lower cost workforce, its well-established track record and competitiveness in industrial production coupled with the fact that the region has enabled manufacturers to generate higher levels of economic output at disproportionately lower operating costs is a compelling case for continued FDI into the region, according to Colliers International.

Colliers expects that a fair amount of market activity in 2020 will come from lease renegotiations and renewals as opposed to new and pre-lease transactions and that we might record more sub-leases being offered if companies need to downsize. Tenant covenants will receive additional scrutiny by landlords, banks and investors in order to limit risk to a sustainable income. Colliers launched the ExCEEding Borders Office Snapshot for the 14 CEE capital cities and summarised the key Q1 2020 market results with year on year comparison.

Office spaces will become a hive of activity in the future as more businesses embrace office designs which promote innovation, creativity and team collaboration, predicts Colliers International. The EMEA Workplace Advisory team has published its latest report which evaluates feedback from its global Work from Home survey to discuss future workplace trends.

Shopping centres in Romania have reopened on June 15. In total, investments in all equipment, supplies and staff needed to ensure compliance with the safety and social distancing measures that are still needed to prevent the spread of coronavirus. exceed €500,000 for large shopping centres, according to Colliers International consultants. Shoppers will gradually resume their pre-pandemic habits and traffic in the malls could return to normal during the Christmas season.

Reduced output in March & May in the automotive sector could change the typical activity curve in 2020, with busier summer months ahead to make up for lost time. Colliers International has just launched its recent research piece in which e it discusses the importance of particular months for the manufacturing sector in the EMEA region as well as presents the outlook for the coming months.