Vectr Realty, a subsidiary of Vectr Holdings, has purchased The Landmark office project in Bucharest from Revetas Capital and affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management for an undisclosed sum.

Whilst significant ink has flowed in relation to the ‘E’ pillar from the vast ESG spectrum, the ‘S’ pillar is beginning to catch up in prominence particularly in the office sector across the UK and Continental Europe. Post-Covid behaviours have had a massive impact on the office offering and workforce demands - the office is by no means dead, but its role has certainly had a significant rethink, writes Mirela Calota, Director, Deal Advisory - Real Estate and Infrastructure at KPMG, in an article prepared for Property Forum.

The past year has probably been the weakest since 2009 in terms of the volume of investments in real estate, both in the Czech Republic and throughout Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This conclusion has resulted from the KPMG Property Lending Barometer survey. It has involved representatives of 48 banks from 10 CEE countries.

Some forms of government support may temporarily ease the current tough conditions for part of the construction sector in Hungary. But companies may not count on outside help only. All have to invest in new technologies and extend their in-house competencies, especially to reach ESG compliance, says Pál Dános MRICS, Associate Partner at KPMG Hungary in an interview with Property Fourm.

The industrial/logistics asset class is presently the most attractive for a majority of banks in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) following the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to results from the latest edition of KPMG’s Property Lending Barometer (PLB), an annual study by the global audit and advisory firm that attempts to measure banks’ lending sentiments in Europe’s property markets. That preference lies in contrast to where most bank finance in Europe has typically landed prior to COVID: the office segment.

Banks in Europe are expecting a slow recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and while they forecast that hotel and retail loan portfolios will likely be hit more considerably than office and other real estate asset classes, the majority of them believes that the impairment will be in the range of a few percentage points up to 10% in total. These are some of the early findings from the COVID-specific section of this year's edition of KPMG's Property Lending Barometer, due to be published in autumn 2020.

Hotel capacities in Hungary will grow by approximately 2,000 rooms over the next two years, which corresponds to 4,000 new hotel beds, so Hungary and in particular Budapest will be prepared to meet the tourism challenges of coming years, according to KPMG's latest analysis. 

KPMG has leased an office area of over 1,700 sqm in O3 Business Campus in Kraków – an office complex which is being developed by Echo Investment. The company is to move into the new office at the end of this year. The tenant was represented by the Colliers International consulting company.