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.

Meyer Bergman, an investment manager specialized in urban mixed-use real estate, has sold Forum Nová Karolina shopping centre in Ostrava, Czech Republic to REICO, Česká spořitelna's real estate fund manager. Cushman & Wakefield advised Meyer Bergman on the disposal of Forum Nová Karolina.

P3 Logistic Parks has acquired a 16-hectare site in Dragomiresti Vale, a prime logistic location on the north-west outskirts of Bucharest. A new 80,000 sqm logistics park – to be known as P3 Bucharest NW Ring Road – is to be developed on the site, which has direct access to the newly extended Bucharest Ring Road and provides easy access to all parts of the Romanian capital, as well as the A1 and A3 highways.

Polish developer Porto was granted a €29 million loan by the European Investment Bank via Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGP) for the construction of a mixed-use complex in Szczecin. Thanks to the application of pro-ecological technology, Posejdon will reduce CO2 emissions up to even 76% compared to a similar building constructed using a traditional technology.

In its capacity as agent, arranger and sole underwriter, Helaba is financing the centrally located shopping centre “Wars Sawa Junior” for Atrium European Real Estate Limited. The German Landesbank is providing a loan in an amount of €170 million with a term of eight years for the acquisition.

Deals of over €4 billion have been signed during the last five years on the Romanian real estate market, with the most active buyers being investors from South Africa, with a market share of 28%, followed by Greek investors (14%), French (10%) and Romanians (7%), according to an analysis by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, commercial real estate in the first three quarters of 2018 the total investment volume in six CEE countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Russia) reached €8.9 billion. Investment activity in Poland exceeded the value recorded for the whole of 2017 and is expected to reach a record high of €6 billion by the year’s end. The sustainable and solid performance was recorded in Hungary and Slovakia with volumes hitting those in 2017, whereas Russia, the Czech Republic and Romania are expected to close the year at lower investment volumes, slightly below the 2017 levels.

Skanska has sold Buildings C and D of the Silesia Business Park, a four-building office complex in Katowice. The buyer is ISOC Group, a diversified real estate and infrastructure investment group, based in Manila, Philippines. This is Skanska’s first CEE office divestment transaction to a Philippine investor. With the sale of buildings C and D, the developer has now sold all four properties in the Silesia Business Park complex. Buildings A and B were divested in 2015 to a Swedish investor.