The number of employees in Class A and B office buildings in Bucharest has reached about 253,000 at the end of the first semester of 2018, a slight increase compared to the end of 2017. In H1 2018, the number of employees working in companies with headquarters in modern office buildings in the capital increased by 3,000, according to estimates of Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. Considering the office projects whose delivery is announced for the second half of the year, the number of employees in modern office buildings in Bucharest could rise to 270,000 by the end of 2018.

A strong increase in new supply is expected in the upcoming two years, however, most submarkets of the Budapest office market will still face rental growth in 2018. Sustained rental growth for Class A properties across all submarkets - except the Periphery - is forecasted. Rental growth on the Class B market is expected to be more moderate, driven both by Hungarian firms entering the institutional market and multinational firms seeking lower cost office options, according to Colliers International's latest, mid-year office market report.

The overall European logistics yield dropped 14bps to 5.95% in Q2 2018, the first time it has fallen below 6% since Cushman & Wakefield began consistently tracking the three main property sectors in 1992, according to the firm’s DNA of Real Estate report.

Cresa, the world’s largest tenant-only commercial real estate firm, has opened an office in Krakow. Cresa already has five offices across Poland: in Warsaw, Wrocław, Tricity, Łódź and Krakow. Its Krakow office is located in High5ive.

Globalworth has secured a €46 million loan from BCR, which will be used for developing Connected, Renault’s new HQ in Bucharest.

Poland’s first office leasing transaction based on blockchain technology has taken place on the ShareSpace platform in August 2018. The tenant was Ricoh Poland, a company providing office solutions.

One of the most active developers of Prague’s office market is ready to embrace the digital transformation and is actively looking at new projects and new locations. Alexandra Tomášková, Managing Director of Skanska Property Czech Republic talked to Property Forum about changing tenant needs, digitisation and market expectations.

Amundi Czech Republic has completed the acquisition of the company holding the property Polygon office building at Pankrác in Prague for its KB realitní fond 2. The property was sold by Mint Investments. Cushman & Wakefield facilitated the transaction.

Bucharest’s Floreasca/Barbu Vacarescu area is the most valuable fusion between retail and office spaces. According to Colliers International Romania, for every 1,000 sqm of offices, there is 35-40 sqm of retail space. In total, in the Floreasca/Barbu Vacarescu area, there is about 10,000 sqm of such spaces at the ground floor of the office buildings, with the rents generated by these holding a share of 4-5% of the total cashed in by landlords.

MOM Park, a 50,000 sqm prime shopping mall and office property in Budapest was sold by a consortium of a fund managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing, Hungarian developer and investor Wing and Austrian shopping centre specialist CC Real to OTP Real Estate Investment Fund. The mall had been acquired in 2015 by the consortium, and since then significant investments have been made in the building enhancing its value as a property and a business.