The Czech industrial & logistics real estate market has changed beyond all recognition over the past five years, with the total stock of logistics and warehouse space rising 66% over the period, driven by strong growth in e-commerce and retail, according to Colliers International’s latest Czech Industrial & Logistics Market Barometer.

Labour force is the key factor for auto player’s location decision-making process - says Colliers International in its latest research. The auto producers and component suppliers sector is very important in CEE industrial and is growing. Auto exports ranged from 4.7% of total exports in 2015 in Bulgaria, upwards to 28.0% in Hungary and 34.6% in Slovakia, growing at a regionally-weighted annual rate of 7.4% in the period 2010-2015.

Investors are increasingly looking at Polish regional cities such as Krakow, Wroclaw, Lodz, Poznan, Tricity and Katowice, says Colliers International in its latest research report.

Colliers International strengthens its office spaces consultancy team by hiring Sebastian Dragomir for the position of Office Advisory Director. Sebastian Dragomir has over 12 years of experience in real estate, time during which he has worked on the office, industrial, land and landlord representation segments and formerly occupied the position of Senior Leasing Manager at Immofinanz Romania.

The industrial real estate market in Hungary hit the vacancy rate of 5.5% in the first half of 2017, which is the lowest number on record since it has been measured by the Budapest Research Forum (BRF). In total, less than 73,000 sqm space is currently vacant in the Budapest metropolitan area of the 1.95 million sqm total modern logistics area, and only four Class A buildings can offer more than 5,000 sqm contiguous warehouse space. The lack of available space is due to the strong absorption of the last few years, and at the same time there are still limited number of speculative projects in progress or have building permits, says Tamás Beck, Director of Industrial Agency at Colliers International Hungary.

Colliers International was assigned by Piraeus Bank to offer property management services for the office project The Landmark, in the central area of Bucharest. With this new project, the Colliers International team strengthens its position on the office property management market, and the whole managed portfolio reaches a total of over 320,000 leasable sqm.

The first half of 2017 saw the Czech Republic overtake Poland as the most popular investment destination within CEE. Based on the current pipeline of deals Poland might retake its position rather soon, nevertheless, the combination of growth, yields and stability make Czech Republic and other countries in the CEE region highly attractive to international and domestic investors. Luke Dawson, Managing Director & Head of Capital Markets CEE at Colliers International shared his expectations with Property Forum.

The hotel market in Romania could become more diverse throughout the next year as a result of new brands entering the market by means of leasing or partnership contracts with real estate developers as an alternative to the management or franchise contracts. Such a business model will lead to the relaunch of the hotel market and will offer, at the same time, the possibility for real estate developers to diversify their portfolio, according to Colliers International. 

Real estate activity during the first half of 2017 was very dynamic in Bucharest as well as throughout Romania. New deliveries, extensions and transactions have led to considerable growth in the main sectors – industrial, retail, office and investment. According to Colliers International, the upward trend will continue for the remainder of the year and will be doubled by new demands.

During the first half of 2017 demand and supply of modern retail space in Bulgaria have been aligning with each other, according to a new research by Colliers International. During the period, modern shopping centers retail space supply balanced with demand by keeping its previous levels of 791,760 sqm in the country and 406,660 sqm in Sofia. Together with this for a few periods now, retail space absorption has been steadily going up. During the last half-year period, it recorded an 11% increase, providing for demand - supply balance.