Despite the ongoing disruption of the pandemic, investment volumes for the first three quarters of 2021, totalling €7.3 billion, are down just 10% year-on-year and ca. 20% lower than the same period of 2019.  Colliers estimates that 2021 year-end volumes will reach similar levels as in 2020 of between €10.0 and €11.0 billion.

S Immo AG has expanded its portfolio in the Hungarian capital with the BudaPart Gate, a LEED Gold certified Class A office building. The lettable area measures around 20,000 sqm, the building is fully let. The office property is located at the entrance to the BudaPart area, the largest ongoing urban development project in Budapest with a mix of office, residential, retail, gastronomy, entertainment and local recreation. The seller is Market Asset Management Zrt, a subsidiary of one of the largest construction companies in Hungary. The two parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

According to Avison Young, investment activity in the Polish market speeded up in the third quarter of the year in comparison to the first half of 2021 in terms both of the investment volume and number of transactions.

The international consulting company Cushman & Wakefield has summed up the third quarter of 2021 for the commercial real estate market in the CEE region. The investment volume at the end of the third quarter of the year amounts to €6.7 billion and is nearly 13% lower than for the same period in 2020.

Futureal has signed a €60 million (approximately HUF 21.5 billion) loan agreement with Erste Bank to finance the construction of the second phase of the Budapest ONE office park, currently under development, which is being developed in parallel with the third phase and will be handed over in the second half of 2022.

Around 120,000 sqm in new and extensions of existing retail projects are under development in Romania with delivery estimated by the end of 2022, according to a report by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

Romanian property company Eden Capital Development will invest €25 million in a luxury residential complex in northern Bucharest comprising 172 apartments. 

Rising construction costs and strong demand from investors are at play, of course, but the picture is a lot more complicated than that. Players of the dynamically growing private rental sector (PRS) discussed market trends at Living Investment Forum 2021, Property Forum's annual event in Warsaw. 

Banks loans dominate the financing market for property development, but the stock exchange, EU funds and state aid are emerging instruments, suggested speakers during the lenders vs borrowers panel of SEE Property Forum 2021, Property Forum's annual event in Bucharest.   

Patron Capital, the pan-European institutional investor focused on property-backed investments, and Trei Real Estate, an international developer and asset holder for residential and retail real estate, have formed a new 75:25 joint venture to develop and hold retail parks in Poland under the Vendo Park brand.