While around 100,000 sqm of new office space is expected in Bucharest this year, no new project is slated for delivery in 2024 which would move the city into a landlord’s office market, according to Colliers. 

A syndicate of four banks granted HB Reavis a loan for refinancing the Varso Place project, a mixed-use scheme in central Warsaw. The total amount of €475 million makes it the largest non-portfolio loan in the history of the commercial real estate market in Poland and one of the biggest in Central and Eastern Europe. The last stage of Varso Place, Varso Tower, was delivered in 2022.

The UDI Group has acquired an industrial site in Brno in January, which it will operate for the time being while preparing for future redevelopment. At the moment, the plan is to build offices and hotel-type accommodations. If the city changes the zoning plan, as it seeks to do, the developer's final project may change to reflect this.  Construction would be done in phases, with the first phase to begin within two years. The developer announced the acquisition without disclosing the transaction price.

Price and yield moves on the Romanian property market will be influenced in the near future by both the availability and the cost of capital, while the overall volume of deals is likely to fall this year after reaching a 15-year high during 2022, suggest Colliers’ consultants. 

Lease transactions in the Bratislava office market in the fourth quarter of 2022 reached a total area of 54,532 sqm, which represents around a 41% increase in leasing activity compared to the previous quarter, the Bratislava Research Forum reports.

Despite many negative factors, Q4 2022 showed that the economy in Slovakia should grow by 1.8% in 2022. Energy prices were stabilized, inflation peaked and we could see the increase in yields. The Slovak industrial sector remained once more the most resilient real estate segment and experienced very solid performance in 2022. In the same period, the lack of new supply resulted in lowered vacancies in offices. Overall retail park projects dominate both this year’s new supply and future retail development with limited space for larger retail schemes due to high saturation. Cushman & Wakefield published its market reports for Q4 2022.

The number of property deals and the volumes transacted plunged in Q4 2022 in comparison to the final quarter of 2021 in major EMEA markets due to higher interest rates and financing costs amid surging inflation. However, property investment will resume its growth path this year, as the inflation and interest rates become more stable, says Colliers.

The Roztyly Plaza office building in Prague 11 has progressed to the above-ground construction phase. Completion is planned for 2024, yet more than half of the offices are already leased, developer Passerinvest announced.

A 44% higher demand for offices in Prague was recorded year-on-year in Q4 2022. Renegotiations accounted for 58%, the remaining transactions included new leases, expansions, and subleases. By 2025, an additional 400,000 sqm of new office space, currently in different stages of preparation, is due to come online in Prague, says JLL.

The Warsaw office market saw a shrinking volume of space under construction and increasing pressure on rents in 2022. However, according to the latest report by Cushman & Wakefield, the capital's market could see a significant tenant recovery as contracts signed in the record period of 2018-2019 come up for renewal.