In the first three quarters of 2018, the total investment volume on the Warsaw office market hit €1.14 billion, which represented a threefold increase on the same period in 2017. Cushman & Wakefield presented a summary of Q3 2018 on the Warsaw office market.

In response to growing demand in the Czech property market for specialist asset and market analysis, Cushman & Wakefield has expanded its Advisory service line with a newly established team of 3 dedicated professionals headed by Richard Hogg MRICS. In conjunction, Michal Naskos MRICS, a veteran of the valuation industry, becomes Head of Valuation Czech Republic.

The Polish retail market maintains its momentum despite the partial Sunday trading ban. This year’s supply is expected to hit approximately 490,000 sqm, the highest annual level in the last three years. Of that total, 52% will be delivered in cities a population of more than 400,000 while 42% will be handed over in cities with a population of less than 100,000, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest report.

Goldman Sachs has purchased the Science Park office building in Budapest from an undisclosed buyer. CBRE represented the seller and Cushman & Wakefield advised the buyer in the transaction, the two firms announced on LinkedIn.

Transactions in the logistics sector have been dominating the Prague market this year. In the first half of 2018 alone, the take-up was 24% higher than in the full year 2017, precisely 226,600 sqm. During the same period, the overall gross take-up reached in Prague 408,000 sqm, showing an increase of 56 %. Besides the logistics sector, more than 90,000 sqm was taken by production and 76,000 sqm by distribution. The biggest new deal in Prague in the logistics sector was done by cargo-partner ČR, which signed a lease agreement for 12,450 sqm located in a stand-alone industrial building in the Logicor Prague Airport logistic park. The company will start operating from the new premises at the beginning of 2019. Cushman & Wakefield facilitated the lease of the premises.

Arena Mall shopping centre in Bacau, a reference for the retail market in the Moldova region, will enter into a comprehensive extension and modernization process that will result in a 60% increase of its leasable area and in the construction of a multi-storey car park.

Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed property manager of Sagittarius Business House, an office building in Wrocław. The owner of the facility is Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate.

Cushman & Wakefield has signed a framework management agreement for 14 office buildings owned by the Skanska Group. The largest facilities include High Five A&B in Krakow (36,700 sqm) and Brama Miasta B in Łódź (27,800 sqm).

Despite geopolitical uncertainty and a slowing in the economic cycle, investment in the global property market has seen a significant rise of 18% year-on-year to a new record high of $1.8 trillion (2017: $1.5 trillion), according to the report of Cushman & Wakefield, which examines global commercial real estate investment activity, assessing cities by their success at attracting capital.

Companies in Bucharest that operate in modern office buildings have monthly occupancy costs ranging between €175 and €500 per employee, according to an analysis by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.