Albania remains a dynamic real estate market, growing in both the retail and office sectors. The COVID-19 pandemic had a definite impact in the first quarter of 2020, but with the ease of the quarantine restrictions, the real estate market picked up and recorded higher than usual transaction volumes, particularly in the residential sector. Colliers Albania published its top 5 predictions for the Albanian property market in 2021.

The total stock of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) in Prague exceeds 28,400 beds. 91% of these capacities are in the ownership of universities and the remaining 9% is provided by the private sector, according to the latest Savills “Student Housing in Prague” report.

COVID-19 has fundamentally challenged and modified the way the global workforce interacts, socializes, and collaborates. Flexible working practices, including working from home, have been heavily adopted as the recent pandemic has forced a trial run of remote working for industries, businesses, and individuals across the entire world. As a result, sentiments towards office space, its value, role, and contribution to the operation of daily work tasks are now being reconsidered both by employees and employers. While the pandemic has boosted the shift towards integrating flexible workspaces into corporate real estate portfolios, the fear that the office will lose its relevance is not realistic. Rather than becoming obsolete, it will become an increasingly valuable asset in facilitating collaboration and driving business growth, writes Gavin Bonner, Vice President of Romanian office developer Genesis Property in an opinion piece for Property Forum.

Just one month ago, we reported that February 2021 had been the strongest month for the past ten years with regard to the number of transactions in the Hungarian housing market. It now appears that the record was short-lived as there were 15,630 residential property deals nationwide in March according to the latest monthly transaction estimate of real estate group Duna House. The figure is more than 1,000 higher than in February.

Romania has development potential for retail projects in smaller cities, and five counties with a combined population of 1.8 million inhabitants are not covered by any modern retail schemes, according to a report by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

The hunt for logistics properties is intensifying, many investors are looking for strip malls and specialised stores, new and premium office buildings are increasingly leaving obsolete ones behind. Commercial real estate advisor VLK Cresa summarised the last few months on the Hungarian property investment market.

Take-up on Ljubljana’s office market reached only 46,000 sqm in 2020, one third less than the previous year. Despite strong demand from potential tenants, there is very limited supply available, according to the Ljubljana office market snapshot prepared by S-Invest.

Czech billionaire and businessman Petr Kellner died on Saturday in a helicopter accident in the Alaskan mountains, the New York Times reports. Petr Kellner, whose net worth has been estimated at $17.5 billion by Forbes, was aboard the Airbus AS350 B3 helicopter when it went down near Knik Glacier, Alaska. It is assumed that the group wanted to do heli-skiing in the mountains.

CPI Property Group plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 and commits to transition all electricity purchases by the Group to 100% renewable sources by 2024. The company announced changes to the Group’s environmental strategy and targets.

Globalworth has released its Annual Report and Audited Consolidated Financial Results for the year ended 31 December 2020. The company’s approach to the COVID-19 business recovery process has resulted in balanced growth, with a net operating income increased by 6.5% to €157.3 million and a total combined portfolio value that remained effectively unchanged at €3.0 billion.