Prague's office market has witnessed several records this year: the lowest annual office supply in history and one of the highest demand volumes. By the end of 2016, Prague´s office market will have 3,245,000 sqm of modern offices. At the same time, the Czech capital recorded the lowest annual office supply in history with only 33,600 sqm in 6 projects, On the contrary, over 180,000 sqm of new office space will be delivered to the Prague market next year. 

FLE GmbH, a company of the LFPI group, has acquired its first property in CEE from an international institutional seller. The acquisition relates to the office building Office Garden I in the Southern Buda area of Budapest, that is 93 percent leased and offers 16,000 square meters of leasable space. The seller was represented by JLL.

Skanska has sold Atrium 2 to HANSAINVEST Hanseatische Investment-GmbH, one of the largest investment companies in Germany. Located near Rondo ONZ, Atrium 2 is Skanska’s eighth and newest investment to be developed in the business centre of Warsaw. The building has three tenants Credit Suisse, DLA Piper and Bravura Solutions.

On 1 December 2016, international real estate developer HB Reavis and Savills Investment Management on behalf of a Global Pension Fund client, concluded the sale agreement of two of buildings within Gdanski Business Centre in Warsaw. In one of the largest transactions of the year in Poland and also in the CEE region amounting to €186 million, Savills Investment Management has acquired buildings A and B of the Gdanski Business Center, totalling 48,000 sqm.

Rockcastle Global Real Estate has acquired a retail portfolio totalling 62,000 sqm from Aviva Investors, worth €160 million. Cushman & Wakefield, Hogan Lovells, Arcadis and PwC represented the purchaser, JLL, Dentons and Deloitte advised the seller in the transaction. The portfolio comprises two shopping centres: Focus Mall Zielona Góra and Focus Mall Piotrków Trybunalski. Providing respectively 26,800 sqm and 35,200 sqm, they are the largest shopping galleries in Zielona Góra and Piotrków Trybunalski. 

During the Q1-Q3 2016 period total commercial real estate investment transaction volume reached €1.5 billion in Hungary, nearly double the 2015 total volume, a testimony to the sharp liquidity increase – according to JLL Hungary’s latest statistics.The outstanding performance of the market was backed by the strong market fundamentals and the growing investor appetite for the high yielding Hungarian assets. Approximately 45% of the volume was generated by the office asset class followed by retail (29%) and logistics (14%). The remaining deals included a mix of hotel assets and properties for redevelopment purposes.

During the third quarter, three new office buildings were completed with a total area of 39,570 sqm – reports JLL in their latest Budapest Office Market Pulse. The increasing development activity has had an effect on the vacancy rate as well: the Budapest office market’s vacancy rate made a slight increase to 10.9% as a result of the vacant space in the newly completed buildings and in the buildings from where the tenants moved out.

The Polish unit of Swedish IT company Cybercom has leased over 2,500 sqm of space in the Nowa Fabryczna office building developed by Skanska in the city of Łódź. JLL advised Cybercom on the leasing process.

In H1 2016, a total of 3,350 apartments in 47 new residential schemes were completed in Prague. For the second half of the year, another 3,200 units are estimated to be completed in the Czech capital. In total, JLL expects 6,500 units to be completed in Prague, which is the highest figure since the real estate crisis in 2009. 

After a calm Q3, the Polish retail market is set to pick up momentum. In Q4 developers may deliver up to 276,000 sqm of modern shopping centre space. JLL has published its Q3 2016 report on Poland's retail market.