Skanska plans to launch the construction of one new office building per year in Budapest. The construction of Mill Park is currently underway and works on the third phase of Nordic Light are to be launched in January 2018.

Arcona Property Fund, listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, announced the successful closing of the sale last week of one of the properties in its Prague portfolio. The buyer of the functionalist administrative building on Drahobejlova Street in Prague 9 is the Czech Medical Chamber (ČLK), which has long been looking for a new building for its Prague representative office.

The first phase of Futureal’s Corvin 5 office complex is the first building in Hungary and the second in Europe to receive the international WELL Building Platinum pre-certification. The office building valued at €90 million and equipped with the latest environmentally friendly technologies is expected to be handed over by the end of 2018 in Budapest. Corvin 5 has been designed to make a positive impact on employees’ health and well-being.

AFI Europe Romania has signed the first lease agreement for AFI Tech Park, the company’s newest business park developed in Bucharest. World Class Romania, a leader on the Romanian health & fitness field, will be the first tenant of the campus, by leasing 1,500 sqm GLA spread on the ground floor and the first floor of AFI Tech Park 1. The lease contract was signed for a period of 10 years.

Hansainvest Real Assets GmbH has acquired Generation Park X, the first building of Generation Park, a prime office project located in Warsaw, Poland. It is the investor’s second acquisition in Poland, as well as its second from Skanska. The transaction volume was around €83 million.

Benson Elliot, the UK-based private equity real estate fund manager, on behalf of its pan- European fund, Benson Elliot Real Estate Partners IV L.P. (BEREP IV) has acquired four grade A office buildings in key Polish regional markets. The properties, secured in separate off-market transactions with four different vendors, follow the fund’s acquisition of the 350-room Warsaw Sheraton Hotel in October 2015.

JLL has been selected by Portuguese company Porto Office as the exclusive commercialisation agent responsible for leasing space at Porto Office A, the second phase of the office and services investment developed in Kraków.

Granit Polus is about to transform the most valuable plot of land in Budapest by a large-scale mixed-use development. The new district will host office buildings, retail units, residential areas and hotels.

BPO/SSC take-up totalled over 60% of all-sector office take-up in 4 key BPO cities (Wroclaw, Lodz, Krakow and Sofia) in H1 2017. Vacant stock is diminishing, due to this demand impulse and strong general economic conditions. Labour availability and employee tech knowhow uplift are significant factors which influence the demand for space, according to a report by Colliers International. The key findings of the report include:

The Warsaw office market maintains its strong momentum. This year’s total supply is expected to surpass 300,000 sqm, office take-up rose in the first three quarters of 2017 by 11.2% compared with the same period of 2016 and the vacancy rate is falling, shows the latest report by tenant-only advisory firm Cresa. The growth of the SSC/BPO sector and potential Brexit are likely to drive the Warsaw market going forward.