Tenants are responding to the change in customer preferences and are now increasingly likely to choose retail premises in modern residential areas. As JLL found in Miasteczko Wilanów in Warsaw, 2021 has seen the number of ground floor units grow by more than 100, an almost 25% increase on 2018. This trend is not limited to the capital city.

Occupiers looking for quality workspace in Europe will face tough competition for the best space in the leasing market despite the most active period of new office construction in half a decade, Savills predicts. Newly developed offices set to complete in the region this year will provide 26% more space compared with 2020, says the European Office Development report.

Total demand on the Budapest office market reached 97,990 sqm in Q2 2021, representing increases of 31% quarter-on-quarter and 11% year-on-year. Renewals still made up the largest share of total leasing activity with 40%, according to the Budapest Research Forum (BRF).

The growth of intermodal connections along the New Silk Road and the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor is creating many new opportunities for warehouse developers in Poland. Upgrade works are continuing apace on the railway lines in Małaszewicze, Bydgoszcz and Pomerania, according to Cresa Poland.

Colliers has issued a new report examining the surge of investment into life sciences and its implications for the property sector across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), identifying landlord and investor opportunity across established and growth markets as the sector is primed to grow significantly. 

Residential investment volumes across the CEE region have been limited and averaged out annually at just over €200 million in the past 5 years. The balance between private, owner-occupied dwellings and those that are for rent in CEE lean towards ownership according to “The Private Rental Sector: Has it found a home in CEE?” report just launched by Colliers in collaboration with Greenberg Traurig and Kinstellar. From the stock of existing developer/investor-owned, multiple-unit PRS schemes, the Czech Republic is ahead, followed by Poland and the remaining countries behind that. 

Total investments in commercial real estate in Slovakia in the first half of 2021 reached €478 million, which almost equalled the volume of investments for the entire previous year.

The sentiment of Hungarian real estate investors is becoming more and more optimistic, which is reflected in their continuously increasing willingness to invest, according to CBRE's survey. Offices are expected to remain the most traded asset type, but demand for alternative investment opportunities has increased significantly. The biggest challenges of the coming year may be pricing asymmetry between sellers and buyers, as well as a lack of stock for sale.

COVID-19 has completely redefined what office means and companies have a lot of thinking to do when it comes to finding the right location for their workforce to work from. Companies are increasingly turning towards flex offices and according to Business Wire, the global flex office space market is expected to grow from $7.97 billion in 2020 to $8.14 billion in 2021 at an annual growth rate of 2.1% before reaching $13.03 billion by 2025.

Experts participating at Portfolio's recent FM & Hybrid Office conference in Budapest discussed the present and future of the office market. The past 18 months have started a multitude of changes as WFH, the sub-leasing of office space, the change in internal configurations, the return to offices, sustainable management and changing tenant requirements have led to a substantial transformation in the lives of office market players. Experts agree that hybrid office use is currently the most likely outcome, as only a few businesses have adopted WFH full-time.