Skanska has divested the first phase of its office complex H2Offices in Budapest, Hungary, to Erste Open-Ended Real Estate Investment Fund, represented by Erste Alapkezelő Zrt., for approximately €100 million. The transfer of the property is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023.

While international investors remain cautious, local players from CEE remain actively engaged, opportunistically monitoring the market, and taking advantage of reduced competition. Gábor Zeller, Senior Director, Capital Markets at iO Partners Hungary, talked to Property Forum about key investment trends and shared his market expectations for the rest of the year.

Demand for modern industrial space is still considerably high though European manufacturing companies are not taking home their production as quickly as earlier expected. Meanwhile, Asian firms in the automotive industry are increasingly seeking proper warehouses and logistics service providers. Property Forum asked Máté Szoboszlay, Director of Capital Deployment at Prologis Hungary about the change in e-commerce-related demand and the special needs of Asian tenants.

In 2023, Cordia International sold its 10,000th apartment, a result of nearly two decades of operation. The Hungarian property developer is now planning a major new urban regeneration project in Budapest.

Facility managers of large sports centres face mounting energy and labour costs too. But those costs can be lower if the property itself is enabled to host different kinds of events. Developers should involve all parties to reach that goal before the construction or in case of remodelling the building. Tibor Lak, Finance Manager of Budapesti Sportcsarnok Üzemeltető Kft., a subsidiary of Granit Polus, which has been running Budapest Arena, a huge multifunctional centre in the Hungarian capital, spoke with Property Forum about how to handle this problem.

Atenor announced the sale of the RoseVille office building located in District 3 of Budapest. The buyer is a Hungarian fund set up by international investors. This transaction is a significant achievement in the developers' operational plan and a major milestone in the Budapest investment market for the year 2023.

Wing has published its second ESG report, providing information about its environmental, social, and governance efforts, as well as its goals, the measures it has taken and the results it has achieved in 2022. The report has been prepared in accordance with the company’s first comprehensive ESG strategy, which will be finalised soon.

Hampton by Hilton Budapest City Centre has opened its doors to guests. Alongside 219 guest rooms, the hotel features a fitness centre and a lobby bar. Flexible social spaces offer the opportunity to work and meet during the day or socialize in the evening, including meeting spaces available for bookings, as well as on-site parking and EV charging for guest use.

Few multi-unit residential construction works started in Hungary, a little above HUF 50 billion, mainly a few larger projects. And although Q2 brought a rise in Activity-Start, the value of the indicator was far below the quarterly numbers of 2017-2019 and 2021-2022, according to the latest EBI Construction Activity Report.

A key to a successful property development is a responsible real estate development strategy which also takes into account accessibility, self-sustainability and biodiversity. Zsolt Hintenberger MRICS, Managing Partner at Realiscon talked to Property Forum about the different aspects of ESG compliance, going deeper than the usual buzzwords.