2017 was a great year for the CEE property market and the scene is set for 2018 to be even better. However, there are always risks to be wary of. Andreas Ridder, Chairman CEE at CBRE revealed Property Forum his expectations for the CEE investment market in 2018.

The fourth quarter of 2017 was very strong for the office market in Prague. Demand significantly increased and annual gross demand reached a new record. Five new office buildings were completed and the vacancy rate decreased to 7.5 %, while prime headline rents grew, JLL reports.

Atrium European Real Estate Limited announced the sale of 18 assets in Hungary and one in the Czech Republic for a combined price of €70 million, representing an 8% premium to the book value as at 30 September 2017. The disposals form part of the company’s ongoing strategy to improve its portfolio through the selective rotation of capital towards high quality, well-established shopping centres which dominate their catchment areas.

M7 Real Estate has completed the sale of Oregon House in Prague on behalf of M7 Central European Real Estate Fund I (M7 CEREF I) to BHS German Real Estate Fund.

Cushman & Wakefield is further expanding its presence in the Czech Republic. It will open a new regional office in the Trinity Office Center in the centre of Brno. Its focus will be on regional office market, but will offer to its clients consulting services from other real estate sectors as well. Lukáš Netolický will be leading the office and at the same time becomes the Head of Regional Cities CZ. The new office will open in March 2018. Cushman & Wakefield is therefore responding to the steadily growing trend of regional market development fuelled by the economic growth. Brno is the most active city in terms of demand, followed by Ostrava.

Prologis has begun construction of a new 28,300 square metre speculative facility at Prologis Park Prague-Uzice in the Czech Republic. It will be the third building at fully occupied park and is scheduled to be completed by mid-2018.

At ca. €12.98 billion, 2017 recorded a 3.3% increase over 2016 (€12.56 billion) and, for the second year running, set a new record transaction volume for the CEE region. JLL has registered continued appetite from investors for the full range of assets across the entire region.

In 2017, investments in the Czech Republic totalled €3,274 million as indicated by a Cushman & Wakefield report. Contrary to expectations, they declined only slightly compared with 2016, which was a record year. The biggest transactions in 2017 included the sale of Olympia Brno, the CBRE GI portfolio (Nisa Liberec, Zlatý Anděl and Olympia Plzeň), Metropole Zličín and of the Letňany shopping centre.

ZFP Investments, the Czech-based subsidiary of Slovak IAD Investments, has concluded the acquisition of the Kotlarska 11 office building in Kraków on behalf of ZFP Real Estate Fund. This marks the investor’s entry into the Polish market.

CPI Property Group announced the appointment of Mr. David Greenbaum to the role of the company’s Chief Financial Officer.