Hong Kong will retain its title as the world’s most expensive office market despite rents being forecast to decrease in 2019, according to Knight Frank’s latest Global Outlook Report. Knight Frank's chief economist believes that there is a compelling global case for continued rental growth across the global cities.

It’s no surprise that expansion of the European logistics real estate market continued in 2018, with another strong year for occupier demand, lowest vacancy rates and long anticipated rent growth began to materialize. At the start of 2019 concerns increased around capital market volatility and potential impact to global GDP due to US-China trade tensions and Brexit. Even though the logistics real estate market ended 2018 on a strong note, some increased concerns at the start of the year raise the inevitable question: what can we expect in 2019? Prologis looked at the top trends influencing the market this year.

Amsterdam will be the epicentre of facility management in Europe for three days. From 20 to 22 March, the Dutch capital city will set the stage for World Workplace Europe meets Facility for Future. The event is owned by IFMA, the International Facility Management Association and FMN, the Dutch professional association for the facility sector. It is the perfect opportunity for European Facility Managers to network internationally and to fully immerse themselves in the most important trends shaping Facility Management today and tomorrow.

Start-ups, venture capital investors, property developers and investors, asset managers, agents, advisors, valuers, tenants, property and facility managers from Hungary, CEE and beyond are coming together at Budapest PropTech Forum 2019 to share their vision for the future and to learn about the next phase of our profession.

Advances in AI applications are already causing revolutionary changes in the commercial real estate field, and we’ll continue to see a shift in the way real estate professionals do business in the years to come. With PropTech start-ups increasingly offering technologically innovative products and business strategies for the real estate market, Instant Offices looked at some of the top predicted AI trends that PropTech companies will be bringing into the real estate market in the next two years.

Warsaw, Krakow and Wrocław offer access to large pools of high-skilled professionals, modern office space and suitable infrastructure. They compete for shared services centres not only with other Polish cities but also with large urban areas worldwide, according to Cresa’s report on the Polish outsourcing market.

The local real estate market has entered a new year of development on all its major segments, as developers plan to deliver industrial, retail and office spaces with a cumulated area of 1.2 million square meters, a new market record. In comparison, new spaces of around 850,000 square meters were delivered in 2018, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

The annual volume of leased floorspace in 2018 was 3.7 million sqm on Poland’s industrial market. The market grew by a further 2 million sqm while nearly 2 million sqm of space is under construction. Last year also saw record-breaking total for industrial investment transactions - worth €1.84 billion, according to JLL’s market summary.

Europe’s commercial property market is enjoying a favourable operating environment supporting its credit quality but risks are increasing. Rising interest rates and slowing economic growth could dampen future investor demand, according to Moody’s latest report.

The European retail market is undergoing massive changes as e-commerce grows and consumer habits change. Here are our 10 key takeaways from the annual RICS European Retail conference that was organised in Amsterdam this week.