Almost 800,000 sqm of office space is currently under construction in Warsaw of which approx. 55% will be delivered in 2020, according to the latest Savills research. The capital city of Poland continues to be a big construction site, mostly due to very strong demand for the office space with its record-high levels recorded in 2019.

Budapest’s certified green office stock of 630,000 at 2015 year-end had increased to over 1,500,000 sqm by the end of 2019, more than doubling the amount of green office space. This represents 40% of the total modern office stock in the Hungarian market. There have also been doubles in the number of certified office buildings or office fit-outs, which increased from 46 to 105, according to the latest green building infographic analysis of Colliers International.

Demand on the Warsaw office market reached 880,000 sqm with 225,000 sqm in the form of pre-lets. JLL summarised the situation on the Polish office market at the end of 2019.

Total demand on the Budapest industrial market amounted to 88,230 sqm in Q4 2019, indicating a 16% decrease on a yearly basis. Leasing activity was driven by renewals (86%), followed by expansion (12.8%) and new leases (2.6%). The Budapest Research Forum published its quarterly industrial market analysis.

The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) and its alliance partner Facility Management Netherlands (FMN) have announced that in 2020 World Workplace Europe will again be held at the Kromhouthal in Amsterdam, 18 to 20 March. Property Forum is proud to support the event as media partner.

Developers operating on the six largest Polish cities sold a total of 17,600 units in the fourth quarter of 2019, which is 9% more than in the previous quarter. This increased annual sales to 65,400 units, which is nearly 1% better than last year. It was also the second-best result in the history of the primary housing market in Poland, according to JLL’s report.

The Expoziției Area attracted almost 15% of the total demand for office spaces registered last year in Bucharest, thus entering the top 5 areas preferred by companies to locate their offices, at a very short distance from Center - West, the most dynamic area in the last 3-4 years, according to JLL:

Sustainability is top of the agenda this year at Davos as governments and businesses around the world are grappling with ways to combat climate change. Of the four global issues the World Economic Forum has said “clearly stand out as urgent and important” at the annual meeting in Switzerland, the first two are how to address environmental challenges harming our ecology and economy, and figuring out how to transform industries to achieve more sustainable business models. The built environment has a huge role to play in developing and implementing solutions, with technology, investment and robust governance central to success, according to the City Momentum Index report from JLL.

Total demand on the Budapest office market in Q4 2019 reached 202,510 sqm, representing an 18% increase from the corresponding period in 2018, according to BRF’s latest figures. The vacancy rate has decreased to a record low of 5.6%, representing another 0.3 pps reduction quarter-on-quarter.

The volume of real estate investments in Romania exceeded €1 billion in 2019, totalling about €1.06 billion, 7% higher than the figure registered in 2018, according to CBRE Romania’s data. The volume reached in 2019 also marks a record of the last five years in terms of investment transactions on the Romanian real estate market.