As CEE economies and commercial real estate markets grow in size, they also grow in scope to include new sectors. Student accommodation has been one of the most successful of the new options for investors and developers in Western Europe to consider over the past ten years. The same may happen in the CEE region over the next decade, according to the third annual Colliers-CMS joint CEE Real Estate Compass report which is themed on student housing.

The modern retail stock in Bucharest remained stable in 2018, at 1.2 million square meters, a level which is 7% higher than in the Central-West region of the country which reached 1.18 million square meters, and twice the corresponding value of the Moldova region which reached 595,000 square meters, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

The Romanian office market started promising in 2019, given that in the first quarter, approximately 124,500 square meters were leased nationwide, almost 41% more than in the first quarter of last year.

The Polish real estate market has been on a strong growth path for more than a decade. Its office sector is in good health, evidenced by a high number of new office completions and building permits, rising transaction volumes and the growing capital values of office buildings. On the other hand, the ever-stronger competition is forcing real estate owners to further improve sales processes. Against this backdrop, professional marketing services are becoming critical in effective real estate commercialisation, according to Małgorzata Frąckiewicz, Property Marketing Manager, Office Agency at Cushman & Wakefield.

Amsterdam, Stockholm, Helsinki and Dublin are among the major cities featured in a new research report from Cushman & Wakefield into the coworking and flexible office sectors, which pinpoints future demand and the next likely growth hotspots across Europe.

What is Warsaw residents' favourite shopping destination? Shopping centres. In this regard, the residents of Poland's capital differ from the residents of Madrid, Paris or Berlin, who prefer to visit stores located on their respective high streets. However, according to a new report by JLL, with the maturing shopping centre market, the popularity of high streets is increasing as well. As a consequence, high streets have a chance to come back into favour as alternative locations and diversify the expansion strategies of retailers.

Companies from the BPO/SSC industry in Kraków and the Tri-City recorded the highest share for demand in the office sector. JLL summarized the activities of companies from the business services sector on the major office markets in Poland.

In 2018 Globalworth registered an increase of 36% in portfolio value compared to 2017, reaching €2.5 billion, split 51% in Romania and 49% in Poland. Also, during last year, the gross leasable area of the company’s combined portfolio grew with over 250,000 sqm to 1 million sqm. Following the dynamic expansion in Poland and the new developments in Romania, Globalworth’s net operating income (NOI) noted an impressive increase by over 160% and exceeded €133 million.

There are already 57 centres in Prague that offer flex space. There are 37 providers in the city and most centres can be found in Prague 1. On average, the price of a fixed workplace is CZK 4,800 per month (excluding VAT). JLL, a real estate consulting company, confirmed in its latest report that the trend of flexible spaces is increasingly influencing the Prague office market.

According to the latest European hotels trend report by Savills, emerging European tourist cities such as Dublin, Lisbon and Madrid and alternative operating structures such as non-leased operating structures offer higher yielding opportunities for those investors willing to take on more risk.