Avison Young, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, a global commercial real estate services firm, enters the Polish market with the acquisition of UK-based GVA advisory company.

Hungary’s investment market peaked in 2017 but a solid €1.8 billion was transacted in 2018 with local investors closing 65% of purchases on the buyer side. Property Forum summarised some of the key market trends presented at CBRE’s yearly Re-View business breakfast.

Developers and real estate investors completed land acquisitions with a cumulative value of around €245 million last year in Bucharest, a new record for the past ten years, according to the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox which has monitored 31 medium and large transactions.

Hungarian developer Wing has announced the acquisition of several buildings in Budapest’s Infopark office complex. The seller was Lone Star Funds – Hudson Global Advisors.

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Romania is reportedly considering the acquisition of the Hermes Business Campus office project in Northern Bucharest, according to zf.ro.

Plaza Centers has signed a pre-agreement for the sale of a plot in Brasov, Romania for a total gross amount of €620,000 which is slightly above the last reported book value.

KD Adriatic Value Fund, Special Investment Fund, the first regulated real estate alternative investment fund (AIF) in Slovenia, managed by KD Funds in partnership with Peakside Capital, has finalised the acquisition of the Austria Trend Hotel in Ljubljana. This transaction represents the fourth commercial real estate acquisition in Slovenia by the KD Adriatic Value Fund, with the first acquisition completed in April 2018.

Immofinanz has purchased the remaining 50% of the Na Příkopě 14 building in Prague from Lordship and become the sole owner. The revitalised historic prime high street building, located on the prestigious Prague shopping street in the city centre, is almost 100% occupied. The parties to this transaction have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

2018 was a record-breaking year for the Polish commercial property investment market. The total volume of transactions completed in the office, retail, warehouse and logistics as well as hotel sectors came to nearly €7.3 billion, which represents a y-o-y growth of approx. 41%. This is a result not previously recorded on the Polish market, according to a report by BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland.

AEW’s Europe City Retail Fund has acquired a 3,000 sqm mixed-use building in the centre of Budapest for around €18 million. The sellers of the high street building were the Pallas Athéné Foundations, created by the Central Bank of Hungary.