Hong Kong will retain its title as the world’s most expensive office market despite rents being forecast to decrease in 2019, according to Knight Frank’s latest Global Outlook Report. Knight Frank's chief economist believes that there is a compelling global case for continued rental growth across the global cities.

According to Knight Frank’s global report, residential prices in Budapest grew by 19% y-o-y in Q3 2018, registering the third largest growth rate in the world. Zagreb also registered a growth rate above 10%.

A new player has entered the advisory market in Hungary and it intends to become a dominant player on the country’s dynamically growing investment market. Chris Bell, Knight Frank’s Managing Director for Europe talked to Property Forum in Budapest about the new office, promising business lines and the effects of new technologies.

Knight Frank formally opened a dedicated office in Budapest, becoming a fully branded Knight Frank business from 20 September 2018.

LC Corp Group has chosen Knight Frank to be the property manager of Retro Office House in Wrocław. Completed at the end of March, the office building offers a leasable area of 20,700 sqm and has already been rented out almost in its entirety.

Gross take-up (including renegotiations and subleases) on the Prague office market in the first quarter of 2018 amounted to 85,700 sqm, representing a decrease of 51% compared to the previous quarter and a decrease of 19% in year-on-year comparison. The Prague Research Forum announced the office market figures for Q1 2018.

Knight Frank has launched The Wealth Report, a study on global wealth. This year’s edition shows that the number of ultra-wealthy people (those with net assets of $50 million or more) rose by 10% in 2017 – taking the global population to 129,730, with a combined worth of $26.4 trillion.

The Polish Office Research Forum has published its figures for 2017 for the office market in eight major regional cities in Poland (Kraków, Wrocław, the Tri-City, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Szczecin, Lublin). The market data prepared by a team of analysts includes modern office stock, new completions, take-up volumes and vacancy rates.

In 2017 the Bucharest office market has posted results close to the 2016 record ones, taking into consideration transactions in Class A and B buildings. 2018 is expected to bring growth and new demand from players that are going to enter the market, but also of the existent ones who will extend or relocate. The annual Knight Frank report – European Commercial Property Outlook – estimates that European commercial property markets enter 2018 with positive momentum.

Wratislavia Center, a mixed-use property in Wroclaw has been sold to FLE, an investment advisor headquartered in Vienna. FLE bought the asset on behalf of FLE SICAV FIS, a real estate fund headquartered in Luxemburg and owning a commercial real estate portfolio in Europe and the US exceeding € 2 bn.