Hong Kong has replaced London’s West End as the most expensive office market in which to accommodate staff, according to new research from Cushman & Wakefield. At a global level, the average annual cost per workstation rose by 1.5% over the last 12 months. Workplace density – the number of workers within a given space – has also increased in 2017.

Dyskret Polska, represented by Cushman & Wakefield, has finalised the disposal of the Vinci Office Center in Kraków. The buyer and the transaction price have not been disclosed. 

LaSalle Investment Management has acquired Palác Andel in Prague from Aberdeen Asset Management Deutschland, the German subsidiary of Aberdeen Standard Investments. This mixed-use scheme in the Prague district of Smíchov–Andel is the first Czech Republic asset for LaSalle E-REGI fund. The total purchase price reached €57.8 million. Cushman & Wakefield and Clifford Chance represented the seller. White & Case, JLL, TPA represented the buyer.

Cushman & Wakefield signed a strategic partnership agreement with Polish start-up ShareSpace, recognizing the rapid growth of modern coworking office space for start-ups and SMEs, and changing office lease preferences of large corporations. Both partners will work together to further their expansion and promote technological and commercial solutions for flexible office leases.

Soaring rents have seen London’s New Bond Street rise to become the world’s third most expensive retail street, while New York’s Upper 5th Avenue and Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay retain their first and second place rankings, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Prague’s Na Příkopě Street has improved its position from last year’s 23rd to the current 22nd in a chart of the 68 most expensive high streets.

The total floorspace in shopping centres across Europe increased by 1.17 million sqm to 160.8 million sqm at the midpoint of 2017, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Since the beginning of 2017, a total of 57,850 sqm of new shopping centre space has been completed in the Czech Republic. The figure includes the extension of IGY České Budějovice by 9,250 sqm, an extension of the Chodov Centre by 35,000 sqm and the newly built Central Jablonec with a floor space of 13,600 sqm. This represents a 67% growth over the previous year. However, the market will deliver markedly less shopping centre space next year. According to current information, just one shopping centre will be completed – the Géčko in Ostrava. By contrast, several major projects will open after 2019.

Poland’s warehouse supply hit a record high at the end of Q3 2017. The industrial stock totalled 12.86 million sqm, which represented an 18% rise year-on-year. Tenant demand remained robust on the country’s core warehouse markets, driven largely by logistics operators whose share in total take-up amounted to 45%. The vacancy rate slipped down by 0.8 percentage points year-on-year while headline and effective rents remained largely unchanged, reveals Cushman & Wakefield.

Cushman & Wakefield selected Budapest as the location of their Portfolio Services Centre (PSC) solution. The new 1,300 sqm PSC is located in the Studium Office Building, close to Corvinus University and many cultural venues and sights. The team is being led by Byron Tudor who has joined from Goldman Sachs International.

The Bulgarian property market is booming with the total transaction volume expected to exceed €1 billion in 2017. The outlook for the future is highly positive: strong demand, underpinned by solid economic growth, encourages developers to start new projects in all segments of the market.

Focus Estate Fund investment fund acquired Most Retail Park located in Most, Czech Republic, comprising 6,471 sqm of retail space. This is Focus Estate's third investment in European commercial real estate. The investment fund previously bought Ostrava Retail Park (Ostrava, Czech Republic) and Galeria Sandomierz (Sandomierz, Poland).