Prosperity on the office market in Lesser Poland’s capital continues, as is evident from the number of new schemes delivered to the market and those under construction and in the pipeline as well as the volume of transactions completed. Experts at BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland highlight that the market dynamics are not to any significant degree affecting rents or the vacancy rate which remain at a stable level.

Demand on the Budapest office market in Q3 2017 increased by 67% compared to the previous quarter, reaching 164,985 sqm. Combined with a marginal growth in supply the vacancy rate further decreased to 7.6%. The Budapest Research Forum published its latest figures.

Cushman & Wakefield has been responsible for the audit of the Focus office building and obtaining a BREEAM IN-USE International certificate for the scheme. The office complex, located at 26 Ludowej Avenue in Warsaw, received an “Excellent” rating in Building Management and a “Very Good” rating in Asset Performance.

Atenor, through its Romanian subsidiary, will complete before end of the year, the purchase of a new site in Bucharest. The site of approx. 11,600 sqm located in the northwestern part of the city in the Expozitiei/Piata Presei Libere area will allow Atenor to develop a new office project of approx. 44,000 sqm.

Globalworth Asset Managers SRL has entered into a conditional investment agreement to acquire a minimum of 50.01% and up to 67.90% of the issued share capital of Griffin Premium RE, a Dutch entity listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Echo Polska Properties announced an agreement to dispose of an office portfolio for €160 million. The assets being disposed include Tryton Business House in Gdańsk, A4 Business Park in Katowice and West Gate in Wrocław. The buyer is Griffin Premium RE. The proceeds from the disposal will be used to fund further retail acquisitions.

Despite record low vacancy levels in Budapest and an increasingly landlord-friendly leasing environment, industry commentators have warned of an imminent oversupply around the corner. But there is no need to panic just yet, suggests Orsolya Hegedűs and Mike Edwards at Cushman & Wakefield, Hungary.

MOL Group announced its plans to relocate its corporate headquarters by 2021 to MOL Campus, the company’s new 83,000 sqm office, which will be designed by UK-based Foster + Partners. The 120 meter high building, which will be the future workspace for up to 2500 employees, will be located within the new BudaPart quarter, on the banks of the Danube in the southern part of Budapest. MOL Campus is set to become the tallest commercial building in Hungary.

Romanian developer Forte Partners has acquired a 1,700 sqm plot in the city centre of Bucharest for office development. The plot, sold by Telekom Romania, is located next to Palatul Telefoanelor and the Novotel hotel. It allows the development of up to 9000 sqm of office space.

CA Immo signed and closed a sales and purchase agreement to acquire Building B of the Warsaw Spire office complex, comprising of 21,600 sqm GLA. The transaction volume of the fully rented asset amounts to around €100 million, the annual gross rental income reaches around € 6 million. With this transaction, CA Immo fulfils one of the last strategic and budgeted targets announced for 2017.