European logistics real estate markets have not suffered last year from the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to fast-growing e-commerce and higher inventory levels of producers, the total expected take-up in 11 European countries of 23.6 million sqm for 2020 is only 3% down compared with the record year 2019. The forecasts for this year are even better with an expected take-up of 27 million sqm – an increase of 14%. Particularly large logistics real estate markets like Germany, France, the Netherlands and Poland are expected to grow substantially.

The effects of COVID-19 have caused an acceleration in foodservice trends which are set to continue long after the pandemic has been brought under control, according to a new report by Coverpoint Foodservice Consulting.

Three of the five EU countries that registered the highest annual (year-on-year) house price growth in Q3 2020 are located in CEE – Poland (#2), Slovakia (#4) and the Czech Republic (#5), freshly released data by Eurostat reveals.

The stable 2021 outlook for sovereigns in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) reflects their robust economic growth prospects and strengthened ability to carry and reduce debt, which make their credit profiles resilient to the sharp deterioration of their public finances in 2020, Moody's Investors Service said in a report published today. Ageing populations and structural economic change will remain longer-term challenges for the region.

The development of the Private Rental Sector (PRS) in Poland could have been faster, but it is constantly being slowed down by high demand in the residential market. Developers are not interested in selling the whole building to investment funds, because margins and profits are bigger with sales to individual buyers. However, their faith in high returns and great growth potential of Polish rental market is shared also by developers, which are constantly coping with a lack of good plots permitted for residential development in spatial plans. And buildings with services, like senior and student housing or apartments to rent as a service can be constructed almost everywhere.

Slovakia continues to maintain its reputation as a safe investment location with competitive yields. The total volume of commercial real estate transactions in Slovakia in 2020 amounted to €502 million. This is a 27% decrease compared to the previous year, which is due to increased investor caution and, in part, a reduced appetite for retail assets due to uncertainty about the impact of the pandemic on their future development, according to a summary by Cushman & Wakefield.

The Romanian office market registered a 36% decrease in 2020 from the record level of 470,000 sqm recorded in 2019 to 300,000 sqm, JLL data shows.

Over 650,000 sqm of logistics and industrial space were rented last year in Romania, almost 40% more than in 2019, a Dunwell analysis shows.

The COVID-19 pandemic did not affect real estate transactions in Romania. During 2020, a total of 602,805 properties were traded, 62,625 more than in 2019, according to the Romanian National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration (ANCPI). 

10,354 residential property deals were closed in Hungary in December 2020, according to the latest monthly transaction estimate by real estate group Duna House. This marks a 2% growth over December 2019. 131,460 transactions were closed in total last year, marking a 12% year-on-year decline.