According to the latest RICS Commercial Property Monitor, CEE countries – most notably the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania – are still global leaders in occupier and investment sentiment. The Central European region’s most mature market, Austria is on a different path, however, with respondents reporting a broadly flat outlook.

Labour shortage and rising costs in construction are problems developers in CEE have had to learn to live with over the past years. Dr. Zoltán Nádasdy MRICS, Partner, Head of CEE Real Estate Investments Group at Noerr talked to Property Forum about the legal challenges investors and developers face on the Hungarian, Romanian and Polish markets.

Atenor announced that an agreement has been reached for the sale of the fifth Váci Greens Building to a Hungarian private fund set up by MEFG Zrt. The delivery of the Váci Greens E building, which is being sold in a future state of completion, is scheduled for September 2020.

Metro Properties, the real estate company of METRO AG, sold 11 Cash & Carry stores in Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic in a sale-and-leaseback transaction. The portfolio has been acquired by FLE GmbH, Vienna, subsidiary of French LFPI Group, investing on behalf of an AIF regulated fund. The transaction was finalized in August 2019, with a total volume exceeding €250 million. Metro and Makro Cash & Carry will continue to operate all wholesale locations on the basis of long-term lease contracts.

Budapest-based commercial real estate investor and developer, ConvergenCE has announced the acquisition of the Central Business Center office building in the 2nd district of Budapest. ConvergenCE acquired the building in Horvát Street from Immonfinanz.

Irányi Palace - located in Downtown Budapest in Irányi street, between Váci and Veres Pálné streets – will rejuvenate by mid-2020 as a high quality, contemporary style office building. The property, owned by Optinvest Zrt is being rebuilt by EBH Invest, based on the plans of Pyxis Nautica Design & Build, while Colliers International has been exclusively appointed to lease the building.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank provided an investment loan and a VAT facility totalling €52 million to an open-ended special alternative fund managed by Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate. The fund will use the proceeds for the acquisition of the newly built White House office building in Budapest from developer GTC. pbb acted as arranger and sole lender under the facilities.

Czech developer UDI Group has purchased a 2 ha plot in Budapest and unveiled its plans to enter the Hungarian market.

CTP is on a good track to deliver more than 100,000 sqm premium category industrial space on the Budapest market in the next 12 months.

Total demand on the Budapest office market reached 163,390 sqm in Q2 2019, representing an almost equal amount of take-up compared to the same period of last year. New leases accounted for 42.7% of the total leasing activity, according to BRF’s latest figures.