The office market is changing due to the coronavirus pandemic, albeit not as dramatically as initially expected. Offices as a concept are definitely not over and working from home is not becoming a lasting standard – it has been confirmed that it has its limitations and that personal contact is irreplaceable. A hybrid model, combining working in the office and at home, will likely be more common. Office space take-up is still below the pre-crisis figures, but the activity on the market has been growing recently. For the time being, the growth has not been enough to justify the growth in rental prices that would be necessary due to an increase in construction material prices, but both can be expected to grow in the future. The crisis has halted the progress of some schemes, so we will not see a major increase in new office stock before 2023. This could result in demand overhang, and thus in increased rents in the years to come, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

The pandemic has spared no business, with its consequences most strongly felt by the retail sector, including tenants in shopping centres, retail parks and high streets. Global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield examines the situation of retail tenants in its latest report “Is Confidence Returning to the Retail Market?”. 

The rampant growth in rents across the logistics sector continues amid a broader recovery in markets as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic begin to wane, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest DNA of Real Estate research for Q3 2021.

The current level of buying activity on the warehouse market shows that lands for warehouse and industrial projects remain in high demand. It is being driven by several overlapping phenomena originating in a range of market sectors. What plots are attracting the strongest investor interest? What regions are being targeted and why? Cushman & Wakefield is looking for an answer. 

The international consulting company Cushman & Wakefield has summed up the third quarter of 2021 for the commercial real estate market in the CEE region. The investment volume at the end of the third quarter of the year amounts to €6.7 billion and is nearly 13% lower than for the same period in 2020.

Cushman & Wakefield has closed its largest-ever lease transaction on the Budapest industrial market, with Boxy Logisztika Zrt. signing a lease for 62,000 sqm in VGP’s Aerozone Park, according to the company's LinkedIn page.

Occupancy rates in Prague’s hotels were 50% higher during the summer holidays this year in comparison with last July and August, propelling Prague upwards in the European cities’ chart. Room rates exceeded €64 in the summer, also an improvement over last year. Many hotels worked with an operating profit and the growing number of reservations is also a positive sign. Autumn traditionally brings a drop in tourism and thus in performance – September occupancy rates are still comparable with summer rates and prices are even higher, but there are concerns about another wave of the pandemic and the potential operating restrictions. However, the improved performance in the summer has confirmed again that Prague’s hospitality market has been consistently sought after and popular, and its performance is hindered mostly by external and temporary factors.

The figures describing the performance of shopping centres that Cushman & Wakefield has available (primarily for small to medium-sized centres in Czech regions) show a positive trend. Following the full reopening of shops in shopping centres this May and June, both revenue and footfall were higher than the figures from the same period last year and the trend carried over to the summer holidays. Compared with 2020, July revenue grew by 3% and August revenue by 11%. Compared with the pre-crisis year 2019, July revenue was 2% lower, but in August it was almost 7% higher.

Cushman & Wakefield’s sales team managed the sale of approximately 45,000 sqm of land in the area of Borská pole in Plzeň for its client, Precision Castparts Corp. The purchaser, Arete, is aiming to redevelop the area.

Most Romanians who worked more from home in the past 18 months want to return to the office, citing the lack of socializing with the colleagues as one of the reasons, according to a new survey commissioned by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.