Immofinanz published its results for the 2019 financial year. The clear improvement of 18.1% in rental income and 30.2% in FFO 1 from the standing investment business underscore the profitable growth of the portfolio to approximately €5.1 billion. Net profit rose by 61.9% to €352.1 million and goes hand in hand with a solid financial position: Cash and cash equivalents total €345.1 million. In order to strengthen this very good cash position, an unsecured revolving credit facility of €100 million was concluded at the end of March 2020.

Our latest online panel focused on leasing issues arising during the coronavirus lockdown in the Czech Republic. The six experts of the panel, moderated by Jaroslav Kaizr, discussed the impact of COVID-19 on current lease agreements and gave an overview of the potential immediate and long-term implications of the coronavirus crisis.

The preliminary investment volumes for the CEE region for Q1 2020 have reached ca. €3.7 billion, despite the onset of COVID-19 in CEE at the beginning of March, according to Colliers International. 

Almost 70% of landlords and tenants in the office market believe that the COVID-19 epidemics will continue to affect their business throughout this whole year, with first signs of recovery being expected to start with 2021, according to a study conducted by Colliers International among 60 landlords and more than 100 tenants.

Total demand on the Budapest industrial market amounted to 79,660 sqm in Q1 2020, indicating a 5% decrease from the figure noted in the same period last year. Lease renewals accounted for an outstandingly high ratio, reaching 85% of the quarterly volume. The Budapest Research Forum published its quarterly industrial market analysis

The coronavirus pandemic has had a relatively benign effect on the Q1 2020 Warsaw office market figures, according to the latest Savills research. However, tenants already started to optimize costs which soon may increase the number of lease renewals and subleases. Companies will look for more flexible lease terms and cost-effective locations.

During the first three months of 2020, demand on the Warsaw office market was nearly 139,000 sqm, which almost matched the Q1 performance of last year. The vacancy rate fell by 0.3 pps, while 770,000 sqm is under construction. JLL summarised the Warsaw office market in Q1 2020.

COVID-19 restrictions which were introduced by the Polish government in March and extended until at least 19 April are affecting each sector of the economy. Cushman & Wakefield experts, including Katarzyna Lipka-Nawrocka, Jan Szulborski, Małgorzata Dziubińska, and Adrian Semaan, talk about how these restrictions are reshaping the retail, office and warehouse sectors.

The total value of investment transactions in the Polish real estate market for the first quarter was nearly €1.8 billion, which is the second-highest result on record for the first three months of the year. JLL analyses the investment transactions concluded in Q1 2020 in Poland’s commercial real estate sector.

The Polish Commercial Real Estate Chamber (PINK) is hereby publishing figures on the office market in Warsaw for Q1 2020. The data is sourced from advisory companies from the commercial real estate sector (BNP Paribas Real Estate, CBRE, Colliers International, Cresa, Cushman&Wakefield, JLL, Knight Frank, Savills) and includes information on modern office stock, new completions, take-up volumes and vacancy rates.