The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is boosting the development of green commercial real estate in the Western Balkans, with a debt package of up to €100 million to be used by BIG CEE for the company’s regional expansion.

Erste Group Bank AG has granted a new loan to Cavatina Holding S.A., this time for the realization of Cavatina’s flagship project in Wroclaw. The financing, which was initiated back in October, will ultimately provide the Polish developer with funds for refinancing the costs of the Quorum D office building (up to €25 million) and for further financing of the Quorum A construction (up to €20 million), as well as an additional €3 million to cover VAT. The multifunctional Quorum complex, rising on the banks of the Oder River, is the largest project of its kind in the city.

Cushman & Wakefield has released a new report on the student housing market in Poland. Supply of public and private halls of residence fails to keep pace with growing demand. In addition, halls of residence remain very popular among students in Poland despite rising rental rates, which in turn is making the PBSA (Purpose-Built Student Accommodation) sector attractive to international investors.

Over the past decade, Hungarian real estate investors have successfully expanded outside of their home market. Firms such as Wing, Futureal, Adventum, Indotek and others have become major players in many European countries, mainly Poland and Romania. They managed to expand via acquisitions of both companies and projects. Part of their funds came from bond issues in Hungary within the Bond Funding for Growth Scheme of the National Bank of Hungary. We have prepared a timeline of the notable transactions and an overview of the market’s key players to provide a better understanding of this trend.

Stokado, a company owned by Redefine Properties and Griffin Capital Partners, has acquired Top Box, a self-storage rental company. As a result, Stokado has added 4,500 sqm to its portfolio of operating assets and a further 4,500 sqm to the development pipeline.

Indotek Group has announced the strategic acquisition of Galleria Porta Siena on LinkedIn. Galleria Porta Siena, a prime commercial property located in the heart of Siena, joins the group's growing portfolio of Italian retail assets.

In the first half of the year, there was a sharp decline in the volume of real estate investments in Poland. Despite the market recovery at the end of summer, the total volume in Q1-Q3 2023 amounted to only €1.7 billion. After the first half of the year with few portfolio transactions, in the third quarter, there were already four - in the warehouse and retail sectors, but none of them exceeded the value of €100 million. Interestingly, despite the turmoil, the Polish investment market welcomed 3 new players this year. Avison Young Poland summarizes the property investment market in Poland in Q3 2023

Property Forum is excited to announce the results of its first biannual investment market sentiment survey focusing on the Romanian market which was conducted ahead of SEE Property Forum 2023. The results, providing an overview of market expectations across sectors, are now available online.

At €3.2 billion for Q1-Q3 2023, CEE investment activity is at a 10+ year low (down 59% year-on-year). The pricing gap between buyers’ and sellers' expectations remains a significant barrier to seeing volumes return to the 5 and 10-year average levels of €10-11 billion. However, real estate fundamentals in CEE remain fairly robust.  Lower levels of vacancy are being recorded and some good levels of rental growth in certain sectors have been noted, reveals Colliers in its latest report.

Czech developer and investor Crestyl has strengthened its position in the Central European residential property market. This week it completed the acquisition of the remaining 50% stake in one of Poland's largest residential developers Spravia (formerly Budimex Nieruchomości) from Cornerstone Partners, giving it full control of the company. Both partners initially bought the Polish developer in 2021 for PLN 1.51 billion (approximately CZK 8.5 billion) in one of the largest real estate deals in CEE. The price of the current transaction has not been disclosed. This acquisition will enable the integration of Spravia into the Crestyl Group, while further strengthening Crestyl’s balance sheet from the current €850 million to €1.3 billion, with the intention to grow further in both markets.