New furniture. Everything is neatly organized. Everything is in its place. And it is extremely tidy. New offices tend to look as if they are images in a catalogue or a photorealistic visualisation delivered by an architect – but this only lasts for a short while. It takes no more than a few weeks for slow, yet inevitable changes to begin creeping into a new office. As the lease term passes, the office acquires a life of its own: it is an organism straining to adapt to the dynamic movements of people, things and activities that fill it and shape the space.

Positive sentiment amongst tenants, developers and investors are reflected in the spectacular demand for office space and reduced vacancy rates in Warsaw. The growing presence of co-working companies is another sign of an expanding market. JLL summarised the situation on the Warsaw office market at the end of Q3 2018.

VD Invest, subsidiary of Vantage Development, has signed a preliminary conditional agreement with IKI Poland, subsidiary of M7 Czech Republic group, for the sale of Wroclaw office building Delta 44. GVA Polska represented the seller in the transaction.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank provided a credit facility of €27 million to companies managed by GLL Real Estate Partners on behalf of a German institutional investor. The loan is used for the refinancing of Griffin House and Liberty Corner, two prime office buildings in Warsaw. pbb acted as arranger and sole lender under the facility.

Rents remained stable on the Budapest commercial property market in H1 2018, according to the last survey of the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) and RICS. The typical yield level decreased by roughly 25 basis points to 6% for prime offices and 7.5% for industrial/logistics properties. Respondents anticipate an increase in demand for investments in most market segments for H2 2018, particularly in the case of prime office and industrial/logistics properties.

Forte Partners plans to invest €25 million in the development of a new office building in the centre of Bucharest. The property will offer 8,400 sqm of leasable space.

Praga Studios, the new Karlín office building by Skanska, has progressed significantly on its way to completion. In October 2018, the builders placed a topping out flag on the site of the future roof terrace to symbolise the completion of the superstructure. The building, with a total area of almost 12 000 sqm, will be completed in Q2 2019.

In the first three quarters of 2018, the total investment volume on the Warsaw office market hit €1.14 billion, which represented a threefold increase on the same period in 2017. Cushman & Wakefield presented a summary of Q3 2018 on the Warsaw office market.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has provided a credit facility of €43 million to Revetas Capital Fund III for the acquisition of the newly built office complex called The Landmark, in Bucharest, Romania. It is envisaged that an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management will join Revetas in this transaction. pbb acted as arranger and sole lender under the facility.

Goldman Sachs has purchased the Science Park office building in Budapest from an undisclosed buyer. CBRE represented the seller and Cushman & Wakefield advised the buyer in the transaction, the two firms announced on LinkedIn.