As the manufacturing sector begins to reopen around the world, new trends are emerging in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research by Cushman & Wakefield.

The Czech Republic came within the top ten countries around the world again this year in Cushman & Wakefield’s annual ranking based on the criteria such as operating costs including labour and the rate of economic and political risk. The country has regularly ranked among the best destination for manufacturers seeking to locate their operations since 2016 when it was included in the chart for the first time. The ability to bounce back after the coronavirus crisis was rated for the first time this year and the Czech Republic succeeded in this respect as well.

Retailers active in grocery, healthcare, consumer and diversified products will lead a sharp rise in demand for logistics real estate in the next two to three years as industries across the board implement lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and adapt their supply chains to the “new normal”, Prologis predicts in a new research report.

Savills has examined the key trends set to determine future global real estate investment activity in a series of articles and interviews launched today as part of its Impacts research programme, where the international real estate advisor studies the various social, environmental, demographic and technological ‘tipping points’ immediately facing global real estate.      

In its latest global sentiment survey among its researchers around the world of the impact of Covid-19, Savills says that the outlook has improved slightly, with 19% of countries reporting a severe negative impact on their real estate markets due to the pandemic – an improvement compared to 29% in its previous survey conducted on 31st March - and 74% describing a moderate negative impact (opposed to 67% at end of March).

In its first of a series of global sentiment surveys, Savills has assessed the initial impact of COVID-19 on transactional and occupier markets around the world, with 67% of countries currently reporting a moderate negative impact, and 29% citing a severely negative impact.

Arcadis published the annual results of the international construction costs comparison (International Construction Costs 2020). Arcadis ICC Index 2020 monitors 100 cities around the world, assessing their construction costs and market conditions. This year's study also includes an insight into the construction industry in view of the current coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing climate change. According to the ICC Index 2020, Prague has higher construction costs in the CEE region than Warsaw (Poland), Belgrade (Serbia), Bucharest (Romania) and Sofia (Bulgaria), but lower than Zagreb (Croatia).  

Radisson Hotel Group is launching a global roll-out plan of plastic reduction – including the introduction of bulk amenities in all hotels across the group’s portfolio by 2022. 

Sustainability is top of the agenda this year at Davos as governments and businesses around the world are grappling with ways to combat climate change. Of the four global issues the World Economic Forum has said “clearly stand out as urgent and important” at the annual meeting in Switzerland, the first two are how to address environmental challenges harming our ecology and economy, and figuring out how to transform industries to achieve more sustainable business models. The built environment has a huge role to play in developing and implementing solutions, with technology, investment and robust governance central to success, according to the City Momentum Index report from JLL.

Savills World Research says that offices in core city markets around the world will be real estate investors’ focus in 2020, but with opportunities scarce and yields at record lows, many will be forced to look elsewhere. Alternative assets, such as student housing, multi-family, co-living and data centres, will therefore become increasingly mainstream. Globally, Savills says that securing income returns will remain the overarching theme for real estate investment in 2020.