According to Savills latest report, 2021 was the best year on record for the Czech industrial market in terms of tenancy activity, despite the low volume of new completions and extremely low vacancy rate. Gross take-up totalled a staggering 2.32 million sqm, being 53% higher than the previous record of 1.55 million sqm seen in 2020. Annual net take-up (excl. renewals) reached 1.48 million sqm, a 46% increase over the former record of 1.01 million sqm registered in 2017, Savills reports.

Thanks to new financing from  Erste / Česká spořitelna, Demaco was able to conclude a new contract with Schott. Demaco believes that this contract will bring even more investment to the region and the town of Valašské Meziříčí, the company´s CFO Zdeněk Raus told Property Forum.

Avison Young is strengthening its team to provide its clients with first-class office leasing services in the Czech Republic. For the post of Associate Director, the company has appointed Petr Florian to develop its Office Leasing service line.

More brownfield sites in Prague are set for new residential development. Czech developer Ekospol is planning its big comeback to the domestic development scene and wants to build 2,000 flats in Prague's Zličín district within 10 years. It is now waiting for the necessary permits to start building Ekocity Zličín, company spokesman Filip Sušanka told Property Forum today. 

The pandemic has not changed the strategy of RSJ Investments. The company’s core focus in the real estate segment remains predominantly on investments in residential and logistics/industrial development projects. Nevertheless, the pandemic indeed makes certain asset classes, such as retail, riskier, admits Marcel Kolesár MRICS, Transaction Manager at the real estate division of RSJ Investments, in an interview to Property Forum.

Slovak developer Cresco is entering the Czech real estate scene with a CZK 1 billion project for a 500-apartment apartment building in Prague's Holešovice, the company announced on the project's website. And it says it already has other plans for further expansion in the Czech Republic.

JRD Development, a member of the JRD Group, has completed the construction of the energy-efficient Rezidence Michelangelova project in Prague 10. The architecturally distinctive building with 29 apartments is complemented by two commercial spaces and a small park with a playground and gazebo. The project, in which the developer tested a new type of air duct to increase acoustic comfort, is completely sold out, JRD Development announced.

Czech real estate fund Investika has announced its second acquisition this year. After a set of three residential properties in the Czech Republic and Spain, it has now acquired a manufacturing and logistics complex near Wroclaw, Poland. The value of the transaction amounts to approximately CZK 1 billion, the company announced.

Premium rents in Prague to rise and interesting incentives from landlords are expected. There is also a growing interest in office rents in Brno, which is responding to the growth in rents over the past two years. Premium rents also grew slightly in Ostrava. Leasing activity in Bratislava is keeping pace with new construction and, together with Vienna, is expecting a recovery. In Warsaw, upward pressure on premium rents will grow, but there is likely to be an easing of existing incentives for tenants. Budapest is gradually recovering from the covid crisis. Rents will remain stable this year, reports CBRE.

Construction of the new metro line in Prague is in sight. In the second week of March this year, the Ministry of Transport decided to reject the appeal of the opponents of the construction, who had originally appealed against the issuance of a building permit for the construction of the new metro line D. The Prague City Transport Company (DPP) is now waiting for the deadline for the decision to come into force. Then it can start the construction, the Czech Press Agency reported.