According to Savills’ latest research, Europe will see an additional 11.6 million sqm of warehouse demand due to the manufacturing sector by the end of 2022, based on Capital Economics forecasts data.

As of the end of Q3 2020, €3.9 billion have been transacted on Poland’s property market since the beginning of the year. The result is slightly lower than in the years 2018 and 2019, however, it is worth noting that despite the investors’ “wait and see” strategy at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, the outcome is still impressive. As many investors are returning to transactions which were put aside, multiple deals should be closed within the last quarter of the year which has always been a period of intense activity on the market, according to a report by Avison Young.

Trei Real Estate GmbH and JLL jointly published a new market report on retail parks and convenience centres in Poland, according to which the segment has followed an upward trend for years, and not even the coronavirus pandemic has impacted its performance. One of the reasons for this is that the stores located here often stock food and everyday products. Moreover, the retail units generally have their own entrances and are directly accessible from the parking lot. Shoppers appreciate this aspect because it makes it easier for them to minimise exposure.

In the first half of this year, CTP Group recorded a profit of €99 million with gross rental income reaching €152 million during the period. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, in the second quarter of this year CTP Group recorded an increase in rental income, which reached €72 million, a 16% year-on-year increase. CTP Group was also able to sign new long-term leases for 345 thousand sqm signed in 1H 2020.

The investment volume on the Polish commercial property market is estimated to have reached €1.05 billion in Q3 2020. According to Savills, the industrial sector accounted for approximately 70% of that total, which illustrates the current investor preference for logistics properties, especially facilities dedicated to e-commerce.

According to the latest insights from Colliers International, investment activity in commercial property in Europe is expected to rebound to reach €100 billion in Q4, following a robust turn-around in larger, post-COVID deals in Q3. This would take investment volumes for the whole year to around €270 billion, only 14 per cent down on activity in 2019, provided smoother waters prevail and the market isn’t further shocked by external geo-political or macro-economic factors.

A group of companies that in April 2019 filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against CPI Property Group, its majority shareholder Radovan Vítek and other accused parties, are appealing against the dismissal of the case.

The I&L sector in the CEE-17 has become one of the most sought-after asset types since 2019, after offices and residential according to Colliers International, CMS and Randstad. The report revealed that some of the key challenges in this sector include the availability of land and property in locations that meet both the developers and end-user expectations, along with the availability and reliability of utilities, connectivity to transport infrastructure, the availability and skills of the labour pool, and access to investment incentives.

The Râul Doamnei - Eroilor section of the M5 metro line, inaugurated in September, will shorten the travelling time for 150,000 Bucharest inhabitants who live near the 10 newly built stations, also offering a quick travel alternative for almost 20,000 employees working in companies whose office buildings’ headquarters are located in the Eroilor - Progresului – Politechnica areas. The Râul Doamnei, Constantin Brâncuși, Valea Ialomiței and Romancierilor metro stations, located at the western end of the new metro line, each have a catchment area of between 18,000 and 22,000 people who can access the metro within a 10-minute walk, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Hungary’s first-ever ’greenfield REIT’ marked a major milestone for the country’s property market as SunDell Estate Nyrt. has been registered as a regulated property investment company (known as SZIT in Hungary) by the Hungarian National Tax and Customs Authority (NAV). This makes SunDell the first company in Hungary that gained SZIT status nearly upon completion of all the steps of an initial float rather than choosing this form of operations after a substantial stock exchange presence.