Demand continues to be strong on the Budapest office market and with new supply still limited the vacancy rate decreased further in Q1 2017. It now stands at 9.2% which is the lowest rate on record. The Budapest Research Forum published its newest figures.

Apart from Nowa Fabryczna - the first office building in Nowe Centrum Łodzi – Skanska will also develop its newest project, Brama Miasta in the city of Łódź. The two office buildings, with leasable office space totalling 40,000 sqm, will be able to accommodate up to 4,000 employees. Construction is to be launched in H1 2017.

GTC has signed an €11.4 million investment loan with Berlin Hyp Bank for the refinancing of the previous loan agreement for the Corius office building. The Class A office building offers a total leasable area of over 9,700 sqm and is GOLD LEED certificated.

Caerus Investment Management has announced that on behalf of a private separate account client, it has advised and structured the acquisition of Phase 1 of the Futurama Office Park located in Prague 8, Czech Republic adjacent to the Invalidovna metro station.

Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed Polish property group Echo Polska Properties (EPP) raised approximately ZAR2.2 billion (around €150 million) in an accelerated bookbuilding through the placing of app. 119 million new shares at a price of ZAR18.50 per share. Capital will be used to previously announced acquisitions and for further M&A opportunities in the retail segment within Poland.

Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed property manager of the Prosta Tower office building in Warsaw. A special open-ended real estate fund managed by Credit Suisse Real Estate Investment Management Germany is the owner of the scheme. The property management agreement was signed in December 2016.

Atenor confirmed the closing of the sale of the third building of the Váci Greens campus in Budapest to Hungarian real estate fund OTP Prime Ingatlanbefektetesi Alap and consequently the collection of the full sale price, i.e. €63.75 million. Váci Greens B comprises 25,300 sqm of office space and 399 basement parking spaces. 

2016 saw a total of 585,700 sqm of office space leased on the eight largest regional markets in Poland (Kraków, Wrocław, Tri-City, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Szczecin and Lublin). Wrocław accounted for 124,500 sqm of this overall volume. This excellent result meant that Lower Silesia's capital city was second among regional markets, after Kraków, in terms of office demand. JLL summarised 2016 on the office market in Wrocław.

Nearly half a million square meters of modern office space was delivered to the office market in the key Polish regional cities in 2016. The leader’s position was retained by Kraków, Lesser Poland’s capital, followed by, amongst others, Wrocław and the Tri-City. According to the report’s authors at BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland, current pipeline projects will also support the high growth dynamics in 2017.

Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed as sole letting agent for Astrum Business Park, a Warsaw office complex comprising 30,000 sqm of leasable space, by owner IRYDION Sp. z o.o.