Poland saw 33 new schemes delivered to the market in 2020 despite retail being in crisis. What does the future hold for the newly-built and existing shopping centres and retail parks? Beata Kokeli, Head of Retail Agency at Cushman & Wakefield, talks about trends in the retail sector.

What the future holds for the office market has been one of the hottest topics of debate ever since the pandemic struck. What changes are to be expected in the office sector after the pandemic? Katarzyna Lipka, an expert of Cushman & Wakefield, outlines key trends for 2021 and beyond.

Close to 130,000 sq m was delivered to the market across all retail formats in Q4 2020, bringing last year’s total new supply to more than 340,000 sq m. Despite pandemic-related restrictions and successive lockdowns (7-28 November and from 28 December onwards), the fourth quarter witnessed 11 new retail completions and an outlet centre extension. Newly built schemes were sized under 20,000 sq m, and nearly half of the Q4 2020 new supply was delivered in cities below 50,000 inhabitants. Cushman & Wakefield summarizes current situation on Polish retail market.

Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk (Tricity) and Wrocław are among the top ten markets for hotel operators in Central and Eastern Europe and in Southern and Eastern Europe, making Poland the regional leader. Hotel operators are also targeting other regional cities across Poland, says global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

Though significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts, the hotel market sees activity and interest from hotel operators. In the CEE & SEE regions, they are showing interest in Prague, Budapest and Warsaw, with a number of smaller regional cities – mostly Polish – also making the top 30. Operators are confident about market recovery, predicting that smaller cities will bounce back in 2022, followed by capitals in 2024.

The latest STR figures show that the Prague hotel market has borne the brunt of the coronavirus crisis in Europe. It recorded the steepest decline in average revenue per room in 2020, down 84.6% on the previous year on the back of an average 16.6% annual room occupancy rate. Even so, confidence in the Prague hotel market and its long-term potential is hardly waning, as underscored by the unflagging interest not only among investors, who are always on the lookout for good opportunities to buy but also among hotel operators, who have identified Prague as the main target of their activities. Results reported for last summer, when rules were eased for a while, signalled that the market would be able to recover relatively quickly once the restrictions are lifted. Complete recovery, however, is not expected until 2024.

Cushman & Wakefield Echinox has been appointed to manage Floreasca Park office project located in the Floreasca - Barbu Văcărescu area in the north of Bucharest, the largest business hub in the Capital.

Although the retail segment is among those affected the most by the coronavirus crisis, this does not show in the number of brands newly incoming to the Czech market. Whereas 24 new brands came to the country in 2019, in the crisis year 2020 there were 25. This year, the number of newcomer brands could be even higher – some brands postponed opening their shops to 2021 due to the corona crisis., according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.

The industrial market demonstrated resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic. E-commerce remained the key growth driver for the market throughout 2020. Experts of global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield have summarised 2020.

Slovakia continues to maintain its reputation as a safe investment location with competitive yields. The total volume of commercial real estate transactions in Slovakia in 2020 amounted to €502 million. This is a 27% decrease compared to the previous year, which is due to increased investor caution and, in part, a reduced appetite for retail assets due to uncertainty about the impact of the pandemic on their future development, according to a summary by Cushman & Wakefield.