The total volume invested in real estate assets in Romania reached €914 million in 2020, a 28% increase compared 2019, according to the Romania Investment Marketbeat launched by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Slovenia-based investor ALFI Real Estate fund has completed the acquisition of a new retail park based in Poreč, Croatia (Galerija Poreč). The property with roughly 8,500 sqm was purchased from specialist Austrian investor MID Group. The retail park is strategically positioned in a new shopping zone near a McDonald’s restaurant and has an attractive tenant mix with everyday convenience items.

M7 Real Estate has acquired a modern, multi-tenanted office property in Budapest, Hungary, for €12.35 million. The company has also agreed a €56.7 million loan facility on a five-year term for the Fund with Erste Group, one of the largest financial services providers in Central and Eastern Europe, establishing a new banking relationship in the region.

Savills top picks for value-add investors this year are logistics developments in undersupplied markets such as the Nordics and Spain, short-term income sectors such as flexible offices and student housing, which are likely to recover in the second half of this year, and multifamily developments in markets with rising demand for rental such as Southern and Eastern Europe.

CPI Property Group has sold part of its Czech facility management business to M2C, which provides security, maintenance and cleaning services. Employees from the existing facility management division will be transferred to M2C.

Skanska has sold the Parkview office building in Prague to Deka Immobilien for €77 million. This is the second transaction between both parties in the last twelve months, which follows the acquisition of Generation Park Z in Warsaw last year.

The end of 2020 saw the completion of an investment transaction that will enable the future development of one of the largest logistics parks in the Czech Republic on the extensive land surrounding the D5 motorway near Pilsen. CBRE prepared and managed the disposal process on behalf of the Icelandic asset manager Kaupthing. CBRE in addition to advising on the sale, also assisted with land due diligence, feasibility study and provided technical advisory. The new owner of the land is retail chain Lidl.

The group completed transactions worth €206.5 million, as well as attracting record-breaking leases, launching three multifunctional projects and starting with its project of an apartment lease platform, which will deliver over 2200 units to the market. The company currently has a commercial project portfolio of 500 000 square meters and intends to double this number within the next five years.

Slovakia continues to maintain its reputation as a safe investment location with competitive yields. The total volume of commercial real estate transactions in Slovakia in 2020 amounted to €502 million. This is a 27% decrease compared to the previous year, which is due to increased investor caution and, in part, a reduced appetite for retail assets due to uncertainty about the impact of the pandemic on their future development, according to a summary by Cushman & Wakefield.

Savas Gencer has been appointed as investment director at 7R. He has joined the investment team led by Christopher Zeuner and will be responsible for capital raising activities and 7R’s international expansion into new European markets.