Residential markets are on the rise all over Europe. There are barely any countries where prices haven’t begun to increase since the crisis. Property Forum took a closer look at the Central and Eastern European region, to see which countries have seen the highest growth. Croatia is one of the countries where prices began to grow later rather than sooner, but this means that it may become a new hotspot for investors looking to profit from house price growth in the region.

There was 689,800 sqm of storage and industrial space under construction at the end of Q3 2017. 44 % of that space is being delivered to the Greater Prague area. The Industrial Research Forum announced the preleminary industrial market figures for Q2 2017.

Neinver, a Spanish company specialised in investment, development and management of property assets, has announced the opening date for Prague The Style Outlets, located in the capital of the Czech Republic. A joint project between The Prague Outlet and Neinver, Prague The Style Outlets will open its doors in 26 April 2018.

The Czech industrial & logistics real estate market has changed beyond all recognition over the past five years, with the total stock of logistics and warehouse space rising 66% over the period, driven by strong growth in e-commerce and retail, according to Colliers International’s latest Czech Industrial & Logistics Market Barometer.

BMO Real Estate Partners announced the purchase of a high end department store in Prague, which is occupied by Van Graaf, on behalf of its pan-European retail property investment fund. BMO Real Estate Partners acquired the building from MTK Developments, a Vienna-based European real estate firm specialising in value-add investments.

In the past 18 months, three major Chinese logistics providers leased almost 100,000 sqm of new warehouse premises, one of them being 68,000 sqm leasing agreement in VGP Park Jeneč signed by the company 4PX Express (logistics operator of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba). This transaction ranks among the largest single industrial transactions of this year. Chinese concentration on the Czech market is expected to continue as there are several other major transactions currently underway.

Labour force is the key factor for auto player’s location decision-making process - says Colliers International in its latest research. The auto producers and component suppliers sector is very important in CEE industrial and is growing. Auto exports ranged from 4.7% of total exports in 2015 in Bulgaria, upwards to 28.0% in Hungary and 34.6% in Slovakia, growing at a regionally-weighted annual rate of 7.4% in the period 2010-2015.

Prologis has begun construction of a new 14,477 sqm speculative facility at Prologis Park Prague-Airport. The expected completion is for the first quarter of 2018.

Central and Eastern European cities have further increased their presence at the largest property event in Europe. Investment markets are booming and this is clearly visible when looking around the stands of Hungarian, Polish, Czech and Romanian cities. Our takeaway from CEE themed panel discussions at Expo Real.

The growth of e-commerce is transforming the retail market all over the world. Experts don’t believe that physical stores will completely disappear but owners of developers of retail assets will need to come up with new ideas in order to attract customers. Jan Kotrbáček, Head of Retail Agency CEE at Cushman & Wakefield analysed the CEE retail market for Property Forum.