Property Forum sat down with Piotr Trzciński, Head of Poland and Andrew Allen, Global Head of Research, Product Strategy and Development at Savills Investment Management, to talk about the company’s investment strategy in Europe and Poland in particular. They also talked about Savills IM’s ambition to become net zero by 2040 and the way ESG is shaping future developments in the European commercial real estate sector.

Interest in office space in Prague is not slowing down. Office demand is growing by tens of percents year-on-year, the vacancy rate is slightly decreasing and over 190,000 sqm is under construction, according to the latest office market analysis for Q3 2022 by the Prague Research Forum.

The office market is going through a period of stagnation, recording demand values similar to those of 2021, while new deliveries amounted to 105,000 sqm by September 2022, compared to 154,000 sqm in the same period of last year, according to real estate consultancy JLL Romania.

Globalworth has announced the appointment of Dennis Selinas as the new CEO starting January 2023, replacing Dimitris Raptis, who will step down from the executive role and the position of board member at the end of this year. 

Property developer GTC has completed the refurbishment of its City Gate Complex office project in Bucharest following an investment of €3.5 million.

Wing has sold the Máriássy office complex in Budapest to GRAWE Immo AG, part of the GRAWE Group. Wing purchased the plot and developed the office buildings in 2003-2005. Financial details were not disclosed about the deal.

The next few months will show the extent to which the increase in the costs of renting office space and property maintenance will affect further development of the office sector. Higher costs of running a business will force companies to verify their budget plans, says Robert Pastuszka, Director, Office Agency at Avison Young Poland.

While Bucharest’s office stock totaled 3.3 million sqm at the end of the third quarter of 2022, there were only five new office buildings completed and just another one will be delivered by year-end, which would make it a 5-year low for the market, according to real estate consultancy CBRE. 

The City of Prague plans to improve conditions for real estate developers by lowering the number of mandatory parking places in residential and office buildings. Thanks to a new legal amendment, they will no longer have to build a mandatory garage space for each apartment. The amendment, which will now be open for 45 days for comments, would help real estate investors and developers, as well as those who want to do extensive reconstruction, writes E15.cz.

In Q3 2022, the volume of new supply in Budapest's office market increased significantly compared to the previous quarter, marking the highest volume since Q2 2020, the Budapest Research Forum (BRF) reports.