One of the most active developers of Prague’s office market is ready to embrace the digital transformation and is actively looking at new projects and new locations. Alexandra Tomášková, Managing Director of Skanska Property Czech Republic talked to Property Forum about changing tenant needs, digitisation and market expectations.

Amundi Czech Republic has completed the acquisition of the company holding the property Polygon office building at Pankrác in Prague for its KB realitní fond 2. The property was sold by Mint Investments. Cushman & Wakefield facilitated the transaction.

The share of vacant office space on Prague’s office market increased to 6.9% at the end of Q2 2018, which is in 0.7 percentage points higher than in the previous quarter. Prime headline rents in the city centre also slightly increase. The Prague Research Forum announced the office market figures for Q1 2018.

Radisson Hospitality announced the signing of the new Radisson Blu Hotel in Prague. The upper upscale branded hotel will complement our Park Inn Hotel Prague.

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.