Private investment company Cimex Group has appointed Savills as property and leasing manager for its portfolio of twelve properties – ten in Prague, one in Plzen and one in Karlovy Vary – in the Czech Republic, starting August 2020. The total floor area of the buildings is more than 100,000 sqm and the portfolio currently provides premises for more than 500 tenants.

According to consulting company Walter Herz, the consistently expanding office market of Tri-City has the lowest vacancy rate in Poland currently and the office stock of the Tri-City agglomeration will exceed 1 million sqm after the construction of the ongoing investments is completed.

Chinese investment company Fosun has acquired the Floreasca Park office building in northern Bucharest from German investor GLL. The transaction was carried out through Fosun’s local subsidiary Resolution Property, which acts as a value-added real estate investment manager.

Skanska invests about €65 million in the first phase of the new office complex H2Offices located in Budapest, Hungary. It will offer a total leasable area of about 26,000 square meters and is designed to obtain WELL and LEED certifications.

Atenor announced the signing of a financing of €80 million with pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank and Erste Bank. This funding for a period of 5 years (2020 - 2025) covers the three buildings that make up the 75,000 sqm Hermes Business Campus office complex in Bucharest.

AFI Europe NV has concluded a new agreement with NEPI for the purchase of 4 Class A office projects in Romania, with a total GLA of 118,500 sqm. The transaction value is of €290 million and the portfolio’s takeover is scheduled to be finalised within the next four months.   

CTP will modernise the Spielberk office complex near the Brno city centre. The aim is to lower energy consumption and ultimately reduce the carbon footprint of the site. CTP is investing almost €1.5 million (CZK 40 million) into modernising the energy system.

According to a new report published by Cresa Poland, the Tricity office market is likely to become a tenant’s market soon due to the changing market environment. Tricity is still attractive for the BPO/SSC/GBS sector. Additionally, investments in its seaport and transport infrastructure are a magnet for sea freight operators.

The lockdown period and the uncertainty of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic pushed some tenants to temporarily withhold their decisions in pending lease negotiations. Gross take-up climbed to 334,800 sqm in H1 2020, representing a 17% decrease on the same period in 2019, with most transactions having been commenced in the pre-pandemic environment. Cushman & Wakefield summarised H1 2020 on the Warsaw office market.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the sentiment on the Polish office market appears to be optimistic. Total office stock currently amounts to just over 11.3 million sqm, with Warsaw the undisputed leader, followed by Kraków. During the first six months of the year, tenant activity reached approx. 667,800 sqm, with new contracts accounting for more than half of take-up. Despite limited new supply (275,700 sqm in H1 2020), the vacancy rate increased to 7.9% (+40 bps Q/Q) in Warsaw and 10.2% (+70 bps Q/Q) in regional markets as at the end of Q2. Axi Immo summed up the first half of 2020 on the Polish office market.