Over the past month, most companies in Hungary made an immediate transition to ‘home office’. Cushman & Wakefield embarked upon a study to understand their experiences.

Bence Balázs is the new Head of Real Estate at Diófa Asset Management. Bence Balázs has gained 13 years professional experience on domestic, regional and international commercial real estate markets. He joined Diófa Asset Management in 2019 as portfolio manager responsible for real estate investment funds. As head of real estate at Diófa Asset Management, his responsibilities include the coordination of the asset management, fund management, leasing and investment management operations of the company. Bence aims to further expand the core real estate portfolios of Diófa, to refine the asset and fund management systems of the company and intends to ensure stable and predictable return levels towards the retail and institutional investors of the funds. In addition, he intends to launch new funds and investment products together with the Diófa team

Cordia International is continuing its international expansion. Following Romania, Poland and Spain, the developer is entering the German rental housing market through the acquisition of a 20.6% stake in ARGO Properties N.V. for €34.4 million.

With the help of Cushman & Wakefield Budapest, a major software development company has rapidly signed a 7,500 sqm pre-lease at Atenor’s Váci Greens Building E. With this new transaction the office building is 40% pre-let 6 months prior to handover. This 40% comprises lease agreements with retail service providers as well, such as a restaurant, a bakery, a drogerie and customer service offices. Cushman & Wakefield’s PDS Team is providing interior design and project management services to the tenant.

International Investment Bank (IIB) and DOB-68 Zrt. in full accordance with the requirements of the Hungarian legislation signed the documentation on the acquisition of the historic Lánchíd Palota building in Budapest. The building will house IIB’s international headquarters.

Hungary-based developers Futureal Group and Cordia have decided to donate €700,000 (HUF 250 million) to the fight against COVID-19. The directors of the company will decide on the usage of the funds shortly,

With the acquisition of another 10.4 percent stake, Wing's stake in Echo Investment has increased to 66 percent, the Hungarian investor-developer announced.

Erste Bank Group anticipates an economic slowdown for 2020 in most CEE countries due to the coronavirus situation. The bank’s report mentions a negative scenario as well, which would result in a massive recession in the region.

Prologis has appointed Paweł Sapek as Regional Head Central Europe, a role in which he is responsible for maintaining strong team leadership, identifying new opportunities and steering the region towards new paths of development. Sapek is now responsible for overseeing the company's entire CE portfolio across Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, with a total area of 4.2 million square meters. In addition, he will run the Polish branch of Prologis and directly supervise operations in Hungary.

According to the latest RICS Commercial Property Monitor, occupier and investment sentiment remains mostly positive across main CEE markets with the exception of Bulgaria where the outlook is slightly negative. Retail continues to suffer across the region as demand for retail assets fell on both the occupier and investment sides of the market in most countries.