Another year in the commercial real estate market in Poland is coming to an end. Although the figures for the last 12 months are yet to be published, we can safely say that this year was definitely a good one for the Polish market. Experts from Colliers International selected 10 events that had a major impact on the shape of the real estate market in Poland.

GalCap Europe, an investment and asset manager active in Austria and the CEE region, has entered Poland with the acquisition of two historic boutique office buildings in Warsaw, Wilcza 46 and Mokotowska 33/35.

The European property sector is expected to grow and bring new opportunities, despite continued downside risks, according to CBRE’s 2019 EMEA Market Outlook report.

Market sentiment remains positive across Central and Eastern Europe, according to the RICS Commercial Property Monitor. Strong demand from tenants and investors persists in almost all market segments but the number of signs that some markets have reached their peak continues to grow.

Portuguese group Sonae Sierra announced that it purchased the 50% stake held by its former Joint Venture partner Caelum Development in Bucharest’s ParkLake shopping centre with the intention of consolidating its presence in Romania.

Multi Corporation and GEMO HOLDING have sold the Forum Poprad shopping centre in Poprad, Slovakia. The asset has been acquired by the real estate fund of ZFP Investments and MAT Corporation, part of the DBK group. The sellers have been advised by Cushman & Wakefield

JLL secured the sale of an attractive land plot in Košíře in Prague 5 on Jinonická Street. The seller was Premium Imobilien and the buyer was developer Ideastav. In the future, there will be a residential project offering 28 luxury apartments with 42 parking spaces for sale. The transaction was provided by the SMI (Small and Medium Investment) department under the leadership of Pavol Bak.

The CEE hotel sector continues to boom, with investment levels expected to exceed €800 million by the end of 2018. This marks a slight decline compared to last year’s volumes. The primary reason for that is the lack of prime assets and portfolios on the market that could satisfy investors’ongoing appetite for hotels in key CEE cities. Institutional and listed investors are becoming more dominant, accounting for 74% of total transaction volume in 2017 and 54% in the first three quarters of 2018. The changing consumer trends and evolution of accommodation concepts over the recent years have resulted in a blurring of lines between traditional hotel classes. These are the findings of the first edition of the joint Cushman & Wakefield – CMS report on the hotel Investment scene in CEE and its underlying investment trends.

MAS Real Estate, through a subsidiary, has acquired the Atrium Mall Shopping Centre in Arad, Romania from Cosmovia Holdings Limited, a member of the Demján Group based in Hungary.

Representing Magyar Posta Takarék Real Estate Investment Fund (MPTIA), Diófa Asset Management has signed a sales and purchase agreement with Portico Investment for a 27,500 sqm retail portfolio in Budapest and its agglomeration. Once regulatory approval is obtained, the size of the portfolio managed by Diófa will exceed 330,000 sqm.