Real estate investments in Romania reached €205.75 million during Q1 2024, up 33% year-on-year, driven by the retail sector, shows a Fortim Trusted Advisors report.

Passerinvest Group has opened the Roztyly Plaza office building, approved in March, to its tenants. It is located in Prague 11, next to the metro station Roztyly.

The Dornych project by Crestyl Group is to replace the old shopping centre in the neighbourhood of Brno's Central Station in the upcoming years. The developer has now announced a hotel as a part of this development. Its opening is planned for mid-2028.

Straco Real Estate and Baltisse announce the successful acquisition of a majority stake in SPEEDWELL, a premier real estate developer based in Romania. This strategic move solidifies Baltisse and Straco's commitment to expanding their presence in Eastern Europe, leveraging SPEEDWELL's established reputation and expertise in the region.

Bucharest still has some of the lowest fit-out costs in the region for offices, despite an increase of around 15-20% during the past 12 months, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox data. Office fit-out costs in Bucharest have an average of €943 per sqm, which is 32% below Warsaw and Prague, and 32% above Sofia, which has the most advantageous costs in the region.

Futureal Investment Partners, a member of Futureal Group, has finalized the ESG repositioning of its Wratislavia Tower in Wrocław, Poland. During the process, the building also received a BREEAM Excellent in-use certificate. The retrofitting project followed Futureal's "Office Impact Strategy," whereby older office buildings are being redeveloped to meet modern ESG market standards.

Victor Căpitanu, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of One United Properties spoke with Property Forum at Mipim in Cannes about the company’s residential development pipeline valued north of €1 billion and Bucharest’s capacity to provide high yields for real estate investors.

Companies with expiring lease contracts are increasingly preferring renegotiation to move to new premises. One of the reasons is the high office fit-out costs, as the outcome of Cushman & Wakefield’s annual EMEA Fit Out Cost Guide is showing.

As development activity has slowed down, the focus is shifting to managing the existing stock across the whole commercial real estate market. Owners and other stakeholders have to adapt rapidly to serve changing demand from occupiers, said Benjamin Perez Ellischewitz MRICS, Principal at Avison Young in Hungary, while answering Property Forum’s questions at Mipim in Cannes.

Office leasing in Bucharest reached 97,400 sqm in Q1 2024, up 71% compared to the same period of last year, while take-up transactions that cover relocations and new demand were flat year-on-year at 33,000 sqm, according to a CBRE report.