New research from Colliers International and Hotelschool The Hague reveals that despite many countries recently introducing legislation to restrict the use of Airbnb, the hospitality service continues to grow in five main European cities – London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Madrid and Paris.

Bucharest’s Floreasca/Barbu Vacarescu area is the most valuable fusion between retail and office spaces. According to Colliers International Romania, for every 1,000 sqm of offices, there is 35-40 sqm of retail space. In total, in the Floreasca/Barbu Vacarescu area, there is about 10,000 sqm of such spaces at the ground floor of the office buildings, with the rents generated by these holding a share of 4-5% of the total cashed in by landlords.

With the growth of the Bucharest office market to 2.3 million sqm, office buildings become more and more important in the recruitment and retention of employees. The new wave of employees is more demanding in terms of office life concepts and expects a building to offer, besides a modern working space, a community to belong to. According Colliers International Romania, in the coming years, property management services will influence the level of employee satisfaction.

Investment flows into the CEE-6 region rose 4% y-o-y in H1 2018, marginally exceeding the pace of 2017’s record year, according to Colliers International’s latest report.

Colliers International Romania advised East Balkan Properties plc in the selling of its office portfolio consisting of four buildings with a total area of 9,047 sqm, situated in strategic locations in the capital. The acquisition was made by Adam Europe, the group that purchased a while ago the Phoenix Tower and Construdava Business Center office buildings, following two transactions that were also advised by Colliers.

Colliers International has agreed to consolidate its business in the Czech Republic with the ThreeSixty Agency, bringing to Colliers their extensive pipeline of deals, relationships and successful track record. The ThreeSixty partners Tewfik Sabongui and Petr Žalský will become equity partners of Colliers International, Czech Republic, with Tewfik Sabongui taking on the role of Managing Partner and Petr Žalský in the role of Director of Office Agency. All other ThreeSixty employees have also joined Colliers, effective immediately.

The end of the first semester has brought to light great achievements from regional cities in all real estate segments on the Romanian market. Bucharest has also performed well and, according to the real estate consultancy company Colliers International Romania, the prospects for the remainder of the year remain strong.

Real estate developers pay special attention to the environment by developing efficient and sustainable, green certified projects. With a history of almost four years, the WELL Building Standard complements these certifications and shifts the attention from the built environment to the health of the employees. In Romania, this phenomenon is in its inception and Colliers International Romania is the first real estate consultancy company with a team of WELL professionals – two out of the five that are present on a national level.

The availability of workers is right now perhaps the most significant factor for companies when assessing business plans and prospects in the CEE region. Colliers International presented the extent of the problem and the most likely solutions in a new report.

The accelerated economic development of the major regional cities in Romania is beginning to influence their real estate market as well. According to Colliers International, there are strong arguments to support the increased interest in office leasing and the strong investment potential, so cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Iasi or Brasov can offer an alternative to Bucharest.