Ikea’s presence is growing rapidly in the SEE region. Construction is underway at the second store in Bucharest and there are further plans for new developments. Viviana Pavel, Real Estate and Development Manager at Ikea South East Europe shared her thoughts on the retail market, e-commerce and the company’s regional expansion.

Landlords and tenants have become more educated in recent years. Landlords know better what to request from PM providers and tenants know what they should expect in a modern office building. Mariana Stamate, Associate Director, Head of Property Management at JLL Romania provided an overview of the property management business in Romania.

Development is booming in almost all segments of the Romanian market, but developers still need to overcome a number of legal and regulatory challenges before they can start building. Then, once construction is complete, they must realise that tenants have become more aware and more “choosey”. Răzvan Gheorghiu-Testa, Partner at Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații and Head of the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group reviewed some of the issues that may arise when developing or leasing a new building in Romania.

The number of institutional-grade products has increased progressively and we are now at a point where Romania can be competitive compared to other CEE countries with regards to building quality as well as tenant profile. Robert Miklo, Director of Investment Services at Colliers International Romania shared his thoughts.

In Romania, the peak of the real estate cycle is often delayed compared to other countries in the region and market dynamics don’t allow for a true warm up. Ana Dumitrache, Head of Investment Properties at CBRE Romania shared her expectations for the market.

In 2018 we are likely to see new investors entering the region. However, at a time when the global allocation of capital is changing rapidly, it can be difficult to identify where a new investor is coming from. Marián Fridrich, Head of Transactions at IAD Investments talked market expectations and investment strategy.

2017 was not the strongest year for Slovakia’s investment market but if all goes well we might see the previous record of €850 million being broken this year. Peter Nitschneider, Country Manager for Slovakia at JLL shared his expectations for the Slovak property investment market.

Modern technology has revolutionised the way we work and significantly altered the leasing process. Andrej Leontiev LL.M., Partner at Taylor Wessing analysed current trends on Bratislava’s office market from a legal perspective.

Automation, e-mobility and big data can completely change the game in logistics over the coming years. Martin Polák, Senior Vice President and Regional Head for CEE at Prologis talked to Property Forum about the future of European industrial and logistics markets.

2017 was a great year for the CEE property market and the scene is set for 2018 to be even better. However, there are always risks to be wary of. Andreas Ridder, Chairman CEE at CBRE revealed Property Forum his expectations for the CEE investment market in 2018.