Reconstruction works on the former HQ of the Budapest Stock Exchange and the Hungarian Television are planned to start at the beginning of 2018 with a budget of €38 million. The 100-year-old building will be reborn as Exchange Palace, an office building with approximately 31,700 sqm of GLA:

Fenced-off construction sites, scaffold-enfolded buildings and grandiose developments – often only in plans – have become characteristic of the Budapest property market. Just four years after the deepest point of the recession, there is hardly any indication of those hard times left. The upwards trend exists not only on the residential market, but also on the office market, which impacts the majority of companies and employees. The largest investors adapted to the renewed demand and began building massive numbers of office buildings, and entire new areas of the city are being born.

The construction of a new Class A office building was announced in Debrecen. The 22,000 sqm office building will be the largest office building in Eastern Hungary. The building, set to be completed in Q3 2018, is designed by Bord Architect Studio. Office leasing, green certification and project consultation will be provided by the Hungarian office of Colliers International.

The Bucharest office market recorded leasing transactions more than 100,000 sqm during Q1.2017, almost doubling the volume of transactions recorded in the same period of the previous year. Net office take-up during Q1 2017 stood at 57,200 sqm. Colliers International published its summary of the Bucharest office market in Q1 2017

The historic area of the old Monopol Wódczany vodka distillery will be transformed into Monopolis, a project that will combine office space, services and cultural amenities along with restaurants. Construction works at Monopolis will be launched in H2 2017 by developer Virako.

Cresco Group’s latest development in Bratislava, UNIQ Staromestská has received its final inspection certificate. The building consists of three underground and seven above-ground floors. It offers 7,656 sqm of office space, complemented with retail facilities and storage areas covering 917 sqm. 

During the last three years, companies have leased nearly 4 million sqm of modern office space in Poland. Taking the dynamic development of firms into consideration, 2017-2019 can generate office demand of up to 5 million sqm, JLL predicts.

Tenant representation is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon on the office markets of Central Europe, which is without a doubt a sign of a healthy, growing and more educated market. Their activity, however, often raises ethical questions as it’s still often unclear who pays for their services. Conflict of interest in tenant representation has been one of the key topics of two regional events: the Property Forum - RICS Prague Property Summit 2017 and the latest RICS Hungary Tea & Talk in Budapest.

Effective from April 2017, JLL is the property manager for Building A of the Twin City office complex in Bratislava, Slovakia. The property is situated in the newly-established business district in the Bratislava city centre, in close proximity to the Main Bus Station Mlynské Nivy.

M7 Real Estate has acquired a further circa. €20 million of assets in Budapest, on behalf of its first Central European fund for third party investors, M7 CEREF I. This follows the Fund completing its final close, reaching its target raise of €60 million of investor capital in April 2017, as well as the agreement of a €68.5 million senior debt facility with Starwood European Real Estate Finance.