Results from the INREV Quarterly Index for the first quarter of 2020 reveal initial signs of the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the European real estate industry, with the lowest quarterly performance since Q4 2012.

The implementation of the office projects under construction is in full swing in Kraków. The construction of new buildings will depend, however, on the demand for offices from the business services sector, which is its main recipient on the Kraków market, according to consultancy company Walter Herz.

NEPI Rockcastle and AFI Europe initiated arbitration proceedings in connection with the disputed matter of the sellers requesting the purchaser to pay the €15 million contractual guarantee and the purchaser contesting the validity of the sellers’ claim and requesting specific performance of the disposal, NEPI Rockcastle announced.

Romanian DIY store operator Dedeman has acquired the third building of 80,000 sqm The Bridge office complex, developed by Forte Partners in Bucharest, thus completing a €200 million transaction started in 2018.

Cordia International Zrt., as part of its international expansion strategy, has recently acquired 93% of Warsaw listed Polish residential developer Polnord S.A. through a combination of capital increase and public tender offer that was closed on 9 of April 2020. Cordia will first report the effects of such acquisition in its half-year balance sheet but has provided guidance on its positive effects on Cordia’s equity capital.

Arrow Capital Partners, an investor and operator of real estate in Europe and Asia-Pacific, has acquired the prime urban logistics asset, Airport House, in Warsaw, for its $3 billion European Strategic Industrial Real Estate (SIRE) platform. The asset has been sold by M7 Real Estate, on behalf of PVBRI, a work-out investment vehicle created by M7 and a Polish Bank to stabilise and turnaround a financially challenged portfolio of industrial, office and retail investments.

Poland’s real estate investment volume for the first half of 2020 has reached €2.9 billion which is the second-best H1 result in history. €710 million was invested in offices alone during the “pandemic quarter” with the industrial sector registering its best-ever H1 result. JLL analysed H1 2020 real estate investment transactions in Poland.  

Local real estate developer One United Properties has acquired an office building recently completed in the Aviation area of Bucharest. The new owner paid €15 million to local construction company Conarg for the project, profit.ro reported. One United hopes to rent it and increase its value to €21-22 million within a year.

Prologis is expanding its Hungarian portfolio with the acquisition of 13 hectares in the Budapest logistics market. Modesta Real Estate facilitated the transaction.

Accolade is entering Gorzów Wielkopolski with a project worth nearly €47 million. The first stage of construction of the new BREEM certified industrial park will be completed next month. Lease agreements have already been signed by Logoplaste and Omnipack.