Gross take-up in the first half of the year decreased on yearly basis in the two largest regional cities in the Czech Republic. The Regional Research Forum – comprising CBRE, Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield, JLL, Knight Frank – published its Brno and Ostrava office market figures for H1 2017.

Europa Capital has concluded the sale of a portfolio comprising two city centre office buildings in Budapest with a total floor area of approximately 26,000 sqm. KGAL, a European asset and investment manager, acquired the Kálvin Square and CityZen assets on behalf of institutional investors. The combined price for the portfolio is approximately €60 million. The property management will be carried out by KGAL´s local partner ConvergenCE. 

An international investment consortium comprising Wing, Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing and CC Real has sold the West End Business Center office building in Budapest to OTP Property Investment Fund.

Immochan Romania has acquired Coresi Business Park in Brasov from Jacobs Holding. The 40,000 sqm office project is located next to Immochan’s retail and residential developments. The transaction price has not been disclosed.

Arcona Capital has finalised the acquisition of the Maris office building in Szczecin, Poland from Bywater Properties for approximately €8.9 million. Following this acquisition, Polish assets now account for 40.5 percent of the portfolio of Arcona’s Arcona Property Fund. 

Union Investment has sold the 18,000 sqm office property Krisztina Palace in Budapest. The property was acquired in 2008 as a development project and has been part of the portfolio of the open-end real estate fund Unilmmo: Global ever since. The property has been purchased by the Erste Open-Ended Real Estate Investment Fund, managed by Erste Asset Management, the asset management arm of Erste Group. CBRE brokered the transaction and the legal firm CMS provided legal advice. 

Over 722,200 sqm of office space is currently under construction across Warsaw, but despite such a high level of new supply, the market remains healthy which is proved by a decreasing vacancy rate and a record high letting activity in H1 2017. Savills summarised the first half of the year on Warsaw’s office market.

Gross take-up on the Prague office market in the second quarter of 2017 amounted to 153,500 sqm, representing an increase of 45.0% compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 36.9% in year-on-year comparison. The Prague Research Forum announced the office market figures for Q2 2017. 

The office market in Warsaw broke another record – total demand for office space in H1 2017 was 391,400 sqm. Wola continues to grow in terms of both popularity and significance. JLL summarised H1 2017 on the office market in Warsaw. 

The EPISO 4 opportunistic fund, advised by Pan-European real estate manager Tristan Capital Partners, has acquired the Avenir Business Park office complex in Western Prague from debt restructuring firm Lone Star.