ARTICLES LABELLED WITH TAG report

In 2019, the stock of modern industrial and logistic facilities in Romania reached 4.6 million square meters, up by approximately 10% compared to the previous year. Nearly 9% of the total stock was delivered just in 2019 and the market has potential to almost double to 8 million square meters in the next years, closing the gap between Romania and other CEE markets, according to Colliers International.

Over 250 buildings and real estate projects in Romania have been certified as ‘green buildings’ after one of the international sustainable schemes, BREEAM, LEED, EDGE and WELL, according to data by green building consultant BuildGreen.

The year 2019 was a record one for the Prague hospitality sector in terms of transactions: the amount of investments in hospitality properties exceeded €500 million. This is the highest figure in history and twice the average for the last five years. This is also the first time that the Czech Republic has made it to the Top 10 in the European hospitality investment chart – to number nine. In 2020, the volume of hospitality transactions could become twice as high – €1 billion, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

According to the latest “Occupier Economics” report prepared by Cresa Poland, gross take-up hit an all-time high in the Warsaw office market in 2019. Leasing volume came to almost 880,000 sqm, up by nearly 42,000 sqm on the previous peak year 2015. The market reported an approximately 7% increase in total office take-up in the four quarters of 2019 compared to the annual average for 2015-2019.

The total stock of coworking and flexible office space in Prague reached 75,000 sqm by the end of 2019, as eight new centres opened their doors to take the total number to 59, according to the latest Savills research. Similar growth of the flexible office space sector is expected in 2020, which would take the total stock to almost 100,000 sqm.

The annual leasing volume on Poland’s industrial market reached 3.75 million sqm in 2019. The market grew by a record-breaking 2.8 million sqm while 1.9 million sqm of space is under construction. JLL summarised the industrial market in Poland for 2019.

In H2 2019, gross take-up on the Brno office market reached 54,600 sqm (up by 303% y-o-y), whereas in Ostrava gross take-up reached 4,100 sqm, representing a y-o-y decrease of 41%. The Regional Research forum announced the Brno and Ostrava office market figures for H2 2019.

According to JLL, CEE's real estate investment volume for 2019 hit €14.0 billion. Poland registered over 55% of this total (€7.7 billion) and was followed by the Czech Republic (€3.1 billion), Hungary (€1.7 billion), Slovakia (approx. €770 million), and Romania (approx. €683 million).

Business confidence among Polish construction companies tumbled early this year, with the heaviest burden, as perceived by the enterprises, coming from labour costs and tax levies. Decline in confidence is chiefly due to such factors as an over 15% increase in the minimum wage and a 10% hike in social insurance contributions faced by sole traders operating in the construction industry. On top of that, large construction businesses are required to conduct Employee Capital Schemes (PPK) or the alternative solution of Employee Pensions Schemes (PPE).

Last year saw excellent results in the office sector in Poland. Demand was a record breaking 1.6 million sqm. Total stock exceeded 11 million sqm with regional markets accounting for 5.6 million sqm and outperforming Warsaw for the first time. JLL summarised the situation on the Polish office market at the end of 2019.