The largest supply of modern office space in 15 CEE countries was recorded in Warsaw, Budapest and in Prague, while the biggest increase of new supply in H1 2019 was noted in Bucharest. The most active tenant sectors are IT, professional services, banking, and BPO/SSC. More and more office buildings can boast of prestigious certificates, modern technological and ecological solutions and innovatively designed space, according to Colliers International’s latest report.

According to the latest CEE investment report by Skanska, Colliers International and Dentons, the region is expected to keep up the momentum. A favorable economic situation and a very good performance of the CEE cities drive demand for new investments, including in the office market. The office stock has been growing over recent years and now totals 21.8 million sqm throughout the entire CEE. Forecasted completions by 2021 will increase it by another 20% - to 26.5 million sqm. Last year’s investment in real estate markets in CEE reached approx. €13.2 billion, with over €5 billion in the office market.

Investors have adopted an increasingly diverse set of strategies to commercial property investment, ensuring global investment volumes have remained above the previous peak of end-2007 for the sixth year in a row reaching over US$1.7 trillion on an annual rolling basis, a situation likely to continue into 2020.  That’s according to Colliers International, which has released its latest Capital Flows Research at Expo Real.  

Bucharest’s modern office stock will increase by over 500,000 sqm in 2019 and 2020. According to Colliers International Romania, these dynamics of the office market could generate variations in the office buildings’ market values of plus or minus 5% during the indicated period. To measure these possible changes, three factors were considered: the average vacancy rate, the level of the incentives packages that owners offer to tenants and yield compression.

Colliers International announced that Kevin Turpin has been appointed as the new Regional Director of Research for Central and Eastern Europe. He starts his new position on 1 October and will be based in Prague.

White Star Real Estate and its partner, an investment fund of a major US university have completed the acquisition of Liberty Technology Park Cluj from Fribourg Development, the real estate division of Fribourg Capital. Liberty Technology Park comprises 18,000 sqm of former industrial buildings. The five Class A office buildings are BREEAM certified. Located north of the city, the park has a number of IT&C and R&D tenants, such as Siemens, IBM, Majorel and Altran.

Poland has maintained its dominant position in the investment market in Central and Eastern Europe with the highest diversity and liquidity of products and diversity of investors. Demand remained high in all sectors, but office transactions were clearly dominant.

Colliers International announced the appointment of Andy Hay as its new Head of EMEA Real Estate Management Services (REMS) effective immediately. In this new role, Andy will focus on driving the continued growth and success of the firm’s REMS division; improving client experience, developing relationships and optimising its EMEA service delivery model.

Irányi Palace - located in Downtown Budapest in Irányi street, between Váci and Veres Pálné streets – will rejuvenate by mid-2020 as a high quality, contemporary style office building. The property, owned by Optinvest Zrt is being rebuilt by EBH Invest, based on the plans of Pyxis Nautica Design & Build, while Colliers International has been exclusively appointed to lease the building.

Commercial land prices have been stable over the first half of 2019, while prices for residential sites continue their rising trend at a slower pace, according to Colliers International.