JLL and the city of Warsaw will begin a cooperation to establish a development strategy for downtown trade, highlighting places with the greatest potential for creating new shopping locations as well as increasing the attractiveness of high streets for both potential tenants and customers. JLL already has a similar experience in this field - experts from the company are responsible for management of the Regent Street in London.

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.

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.

Hungarian retail sales and turnover continue to show healthy growth, buoyed by the abolition of the Sunday closing law after barely one year in effect. Retailer demand is unbroken but remains pressed by the lack of available supply resulting in upward pressure on rents. Fashion retailers remained the most active in H1 2016, followed by the footwear and F&B segments which both expanded significantly, according to the latest Retail Market View published by CBRE.

According to a study by JLL called Destination Europe 2015, Prague has been ranked as the 14th most attractive market in EMEA for the expansion of international and luxury retailers. This reflects the strong purchasing power of the Prague and Czech citizens, as well as its massive volume of tourists. According to TripAdvisor’s Top 10 Global City Destinations 2016, the City of Prague ranks in 4th position in the Europe. Prague’s flourishing retail market has been on property investors´ radar over the past few years and the purchase of Palladium, a prime shopping centre in the very heart of Prague, was one of the largest transactions closed on the Czech real estate market last year.