The CEE investment market continues to perform well in 2018 but investors are becoming increasingly cautious, driven by rising interest rates and the changing attractiveness of certain asset classes. Mike Atwell, Head of Capital Markets Czech Republic and Lead Director CEE at JLL talked to Property Forum about investor sentiment, financing and transparency.

PNK Group, an international industrial real estate developer from Russia, entered the European market with the opening of its new industrial park - PNK Park Sereď in the Western Slovak region. The park comprises a 45,000 square meters of Class A industrial space across two completed facilities.

Business services centres occupy more than 2.5 million sqm on the Polish office market according to new estimates by JLL. Traditionally, the business services sector has the highest percentage of occupied office space in Kraków (61%).

Andrei Văcaru has been promoted to Head of Capital Markets JLL Romania, effective 1st August 2018. Andrei has over 13 years’ experience in the Romanian real estate market which spans over different segments including capital markets, consultancy, retail leasing and retail tenant representation.

In H1 2018, demand on Poland’s industrial market was 2 million sqm - this is the best ever result recorded in the market’s history. In addition, industrial stock in Poland has now exceeded 14 million sqm, according to JLL.

JLL and LaSalle Investment Management published the latest edition of the Global Real Estate Transparency Index - GRETI. The world's most transparent markets include the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, France, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and Finland.

JLL Slovakia announced that as of 1st of August, Barbora Dermeková MRICS, has been promoted to Head of Valuation department with overall responsibility for valuation and appraisal services in JLL Slovakia.

Design & Build, a wholly owned subsidiary of JLL, appointed a new Senior Architect in Slovakia.JLL Slovakia opened its Project & Development Services department back in 2013 and in cooperation with Czech Tétris Design & Build team concluded several successful projects for well established and important local and international clients.

Properties worth up to €3.88 billion have switched owners since January in Poland. JLL analysed the investment transactions concluded in the commercial real estate sector in Poland.

The total investment volume in Slovakia for H1 2018 reached just under €500 million, a significant amount compared to the €535 million for the entire 2017 and record-breaking €850 million in 2016. This is the result of several mid-volume level deals slipping from 2017 Q4 to 2018 Q1/Q2, as well as increased liquidity and investment activity on the Slovak market, according to JLL.