Appetite for the acquisition of office buildings and industrial parks, less rented offices and shopping centres with postponed openings, this is how this quarter could be described regarding the real estate market in Romania, according to the quarterly report of CBRE.

The first three months of the year were closed with promising figures on the Romanian property market. CBRE published its Q1 2020 overview of the main commercial real estate sectors.

Erste Real Estate, a subsidiary of Erste Bank Hungary, has signed an agreement to sell 57 hectares of a 170-hectare plot in Ecser, next to Budapest, to an international logistics company that intends to build a 100,000-square-meter high bay warehouse on the plot. VLK Cresa assisted the seller in this transaction.

At the start of the year, investment into Polish commercial real estate was dominated by logistics. Warehouse assets worth €1.46 billion changed hands in Q1 2020, which almost equals the annual total for 2019 of €1.48 billion, according to a report by Renata Osiecka, AXI IMMO’s Managing Partner.

Panattoni received a BREEAM International New Construction certification with a Very Good rating. The new endorsement was awarded to the developer’s 60,000-square-metre project for Amazon in Okmiany near Bolesławiec. The facility was recognised for its features, including the water system which obtained the highest possible score.

Developer 7R has signed an agreement for a BTS warehouse facility for Hultafors Group, a leading Swedish company that provides a number of premium brands, such as Snickers Workwear, Hultafors Tools and Solid Gear, to professional craftsmen all over the world. The project, located in Goleniów (North-Western Poland), will be the country’s first A-class automated warehouse which uses the AutoStore system.  

In Q1 2020, Panattoni signed leases for more than 425,000 sqm, of which 207,000 sqm were taken up in March alone. There was 1,051,777 sqm under development, and since the beginning of its European operations, Panattoni has delivered 10 million square metres, with 7.6 million of that in Poland.

Romanian developer Zacaria Group is offering industrial space free of charge for local authorities and non-governmental organizations to help manage the emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Transilvania Business reports. Furthermore, the company, for the first time, offers short-term rentals for companies that have to expand or temporarily move their activities due to the coronavirus crisis.

Panattoni is extending a production plant making specialised telecommunications systems at Panattoni Park Szczecin I. Next to the existing 32,000 sqm, the developer will build a further 24,000 sqm. As a result, this June the logistics and industrial complex will be 80 percent completed, and by year-end Panattoni intends to embark on the construction of the final 42,000 sqm phase of the park, completing the entire project planned to total 220,700 sqm.

Panattoni developer has leased approx. 13,400 sqm to VS Transport at Panattoni Park Wrocław VII. The tenant will be moving into the complex this April, and the developer is announcing the construction of a further 38,000 sqm at the same location.