With the purchase of the Visionary office building in Prague, CA Immo and Skanska have successfully signed and closed the second transaction between the two companies in the CEE region in 2018. The gross transaction volume is approx. €68 million.

The amount of office space currently under development in Prague is higher than ever. 136,000 sqm was completed in 2017 and an additional 165,000 sqm of modern office space should be delivered to the market in 2018. This is the highest development rate since 2008. Despite that, the vacancy rate has dropped to a record low of 6.2 per cent. This is a year-on-year decrease of more than 3 percentage points. This should change, however, with seven new office buildings due to be completed this year, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Avestus Capital Partners has sold Explora Business Centre in Prague to Golden Star Group, an international real estate group specializing in commercial and leisure real estate properties. Real estate advisors Colliers International and law firm Schoultz & Partners represented Avestus Real Estate while Golden Star Group was represented by Havel & Partners in this transaction.

In mid-June, international property developer HB Reavis announced the completion of a major real estate deal. The developer sold its office property Metronom Business Center located in Prague-Butovice to ČS nemovitostní fond, managed by Česká spořitelna’s REICO investiční společnost, for a sum of €89.2 million (CZK 2.3 billon). JLL advised HB Reavis on the sale.

Cromwell Property Group has sold the Čestlice Business Park in Prague-East for €17.5 million to an undisclosed buyer.

In recent weeks, JLL has participated in three large-scale investment transactions in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. These were strategic acquisitions of Wood & Company's real estate fund (the real estate arm of investment group Wood & Company), which recently acquired three premium office buildings.

Hub Ventures, an operator of shared office space in the Czech Republic, is going public this month on the Prague Stock Exchange's Start market. Investors began making orders at the beginning of the week in a fundraising exercise expected to take in as much as €3.5 million (CZK 90 million).

Europa Capital, represented by Savills, has concluded the sale of Hadovka Office Park in Prague to Wood & Company, a leading investment bank in Emerging Europe.

MAX Immo has been appointed as an exclusive partner for the leasing of City Palais building situated in Prague’s “Golden Cross”. Redevco, the owner of City Palais commissioned MAX Immo to secure the leasing. The building provides office, retail and residential space on an area of 7,500 square metres.

Digitisation and automation are transforming the property business, not just in Western Europe but in CEE markets as well. 200 people came together at the second Prague Property Forum 2018, a conference organised by Property Forum and RICS, where an international group of speakers discussed the effects of technology on the property business.