Representatives of the global hotel industry have found themselves in a very difficult situation due to government restrictions that significantly limited the possibility of doing business. Justyna Kijewska, Associate, Senior Portfolio Manager at Cushman & Wakefield, talks about the current health of the hotel sector and predictions of hotel owners.

The Polish office market was booming until the pandemic struck. 2020 brought many changes and a downturn in developer and tenant activity. How is the market doing in the new environment it found itself in over a year ago? Real estate advisory firm Cresa has analysed the current levels of pre-lets and the office development pipeline in Poland.

Smaller retail facilities up to 20,000 sqm, such as parks, have proved their resilience to the pandemic in Central and Eastern Europe and remain attractive for investors. In Poland, 170,000 sqm of new supply in retail parks is planned for 2021, with 120,000 sqm in Romania, and 70,000 sqm in the Czech Republic, according to CBRE data. In all countries in the region, consumers and investors appreciate their locality, with development opportunities in small towns, supplying the most important needs and ensuring greater safety in the pandemic.

Hungarian investor Indotek Group is ready to spend hundreds of millions of euros on diversifying its portfolio geographically. Krisztián Hornok, Transaction Director and Florin Tirla, Country Head for Romania & Bulgaria shared with Property Forum the details of the company’s ambitious international expansion strategy and also discussed the pandemic’s effects on the attractiveness of different asset classes.

Although many projected that office development projects would be cancelled due to the pandemic, that is not what the numbers are showing. Developments are ongoing despite the emergence of working from home and Eston forecasts about 160,000 sqm of offices for rent to be put on the market this year, following 230,000 sqm in 2020. Meanwhile, the pre-lease ratio of buildings under construction is lower than seen in previous years, in line with the current demand trend.

According to Colliers, CEE 2021 year-end investment volumes are likely to reach similar levels to 2020. CEE economies are expected  to accelerate  throughout 2021 and 2022, at an average pace of ca. 4.3% annually

The pandemic has caused a lot of change on the market but these changes can easily be viewed as an opportunity for further growth as Jonathan Hallett, Head of Central & Eastern Europe at Cushman & Wakefield demonstrates. He talked to Property Forum about the results of the last year and shared his expectations for the future of work and the CEE advisory market.

Shopping centre footfall in February in Poland, prior to the fourth lockdown, averaged approximately 80% of last year’s levels. Shoppers will return to shopping centres once restrictions are lifted, say experts of Cushman & Wakefield.

In the first quarter of this year €1.25 billion was spent on commercial real estate in Poland. This reflects a decrease of only 1.5% compared to the five-year average for the first quarters of 2017-2021. Offices have the largest share in the investment market, but the industrial and logistics segment is also continuing its streak. Capital investment came to Poland mainly from Europe, according to the latest CBRE report. The company's experts indicate that there is moderate optimism on the investment market, which is reflected in the safe choices of investors.

Close to 70,000 sqm of new retail space was delivered to the Polish market in Q1 2021, reveals Cushman & Wakefield. The new supply was dominated by small retail parks and standalone stores.