Polish sportswear retailer, 50 Style, opened in October its first store in Romania, in Bucharest’s Iris Shopping Center, Titan area, on a surface of 315 sqm. Its entry on the local market confirms the real estate consultancy company’s, Colliers International Romania's, view of the Polish brands’ goal to expand in the Eastern European region, especially in Romania, where consumption has steadily increased in recent years.

Colliers International is extending its range of services dedicated to investors. Dorota Wysokińska-Kuzdra has joined the company where she will head the new Corporate Finance CEE department as a Partner. The new business line will provide advice on customers’ financial needs, including debt financing, mezzanine financing, raising capital and gaining capital partners, and also offering support in acquiring companies and entering the stock exchange.

GTC’s latest development, GTC White House has achieved the highest, Platinum certification level under the LEED for Building Design and Construction rating scheme. As of today, this is the second office building which was awarded with this certification in Budapest. The certification process was advised by Colliers International Hungary’s Green Building Advisory Team.

In the third quarter of 2018, the Polish warehouse market was bolstered by 683,400 sqm of new supply. At the end of September, storage space in Poland exceeded 15 million sqm, which means that in the last 5 years the total surface volume has doubled. Almost 2 million sqm remains under construction, of which more than 25% in Central Poland.

Colliers International is predicting it will be a further seven years before there is a rebalancing of the physical and online retailing sectors across Europe.

Colliers International has been appointed the manager of the 15,000 sqm Bałtyk office building in Poznań.

The areas in northern Bucharest, such as Stefanestii de Jos and Chitila, have the potential to form a new logistics hub, according to Colliers International. Over 180,000 sqm of logistics space is to be delivered next year, as the West of the capital has become loaded in terms of the development of industrial and logistic spaces.

The National Bank of Romania (NBR) reintroduced limits for the maximum indebtedness levels for individuals or families seeking out consumer or mortgage loans. These debt service-to-income (DSTI) ratios will become 40% for RON loans and 20% for hard currency starting in 2019. As per Colliers International Romania’s estimates, for the residential market, the impact in terms of prices will be uneven, geared more towards the low and medium-low segments of the residential market.

There is room for online and conventional channel retail to continue co-existing side by side in the short to medium term in the CEE-6 markets, according to Colliers International. The solid further €71.5 billion expansion of retail sales out to 2022, 4.9% growth per annum overall, creates enough evolutionary room for multiple concepts to continue thriving. Conservative growth scenario sees e-commerce in CEE-6 expanding 8.8% per annum from a baseline of €13.1 billion to €20 billion.

According to Colliers International’s EMEA Industrial & Logistics Hubs report, demand for industrial and warehouse property rose in 50% of EMEA markets in H1 2018, up from 35% in H2 2017, driven by positive occupier sentiment, and despite challenges in the overall economy such as protectionism fears and trade tensions between the US and close trading partners in the EU.