Some of the most mature PRS markets in Europe are Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the Nordics. The Polish PRS market is still in its infancy, but more and more players are declaring their willingness to build portfolios of thousands of rental apartments in Poland. Experts of Cushman & Wakefield present an outlook for the PRS growth in Poland.

Over 80% of the new retail space expected to be completed in 2021 will be in the form of retail parks, including smaller strip malls, highlighting a market shift towards proximity-based schemes or those with a smaller financial footprint for the developer, according to Colliers International Romania. 

Hungary-based residential developer Cordia International Zrt. continues its international expansion strategy. After acquiring UK developer Blackswan last year, the company has announced the acquisition of a new office space in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, England, which will become Cordia Blackswan’s UK headquarter. The property developer is set to refurbish and move into a former branch of Lloyds bank. The historical building will not only be home to Cordia Blackswan, but it will also offer modern office and co-working spaces.

Passerinvest Group has sold the Nová Karolina Park office building in the centre of Ostrava. The new owner is locally based investment group RT TORAX Group.

The activity on the Bulgarian real estate market was strongly affected by the COVID-19 crisis, but we saw more resilience for the investment and industrial sectors which registered both an increase during the last year. For 2021, the forecasts are still positive for the investment property market and for the industrial development sector, according to the Sofia City Report H2 2020, released by JLL Romania with the support of IPC Partners Bulgaria.

In 2020, the total volume invested in land acquisitions in the Bucharest – Ilfov region reached €194 million, reflecting a 6.5% decrease compared to 2019, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.  

The Jumbo toy retailer invests €35 million in its first warehouse in Romania, Profit.ro announced.

Real estate investment manager Garbe Institutional Capital, headquartered in Hamburg (Germany), is expanding into Central and Eastern Europe. Managing and developing retail, office and residential real estate assets, the company will initially focus on the Polish and Czech markets. With its commitment to the CEE region, Garbe Institutional Capital provides German institutional investors with access to high-quality real estate investments in economically prospering metropolitan areas in the eastern part of the European Union. The new CEE business is based in Prague and headed by Ben Maudling as Managing Director, Head of CEE.

Wallberg completed the first tower of the XCity Towers project developed in the northern part of Timişoara and the apartments were sold in full, the company announced. 

Chariot Top Group BV, a company managed by Griffin Real Estate, has sold 4 retail parks, completing the third and the last tranche of retail assets acquisition by EPP. It is the biggest retail transaction on the Polish real estate market in terms of volume since the beginning of the pandemic.