A reference kit for an office manager: experts from the Office Agency Department at BNP Paribas Real Estate explain how to plan an office for a small company.

Short and long-term European rates are expected to be benign for the foreseeable future limiting any negative impact on property markets, despite news of the recent bond sell-off in the US which could signify an end to the very low interest rate environment that has dominated the current property cycle. Strong occupier expansion, low vacancy rates and limited development pipelines have supported a gradual shift in market conditions to favour landlords, resulting in rental growth and stability across the majority of European markets during 2018. This has supported property values and returns, despite yields being at their cyclical peak, a situation likely to continue into 2019. That’s according to Colliers International’s latest Capital Flows Report, released at Expo Real.

A record volume of boutique office space will be delivered in Bucharest by the end of this year, according to ESOP Romania’s press release.

Tri-City is becoming increasingly popular amongst global players looking for optimal location conducive to further business development. Furthermore, the growing business image of the region is contributing to a great deal of interest in office space and boosting developer activity on the local market. JLL estimates that by 2021 the total office stock in the Tri-City area may exceed 1 million sqm.

Land in Bucharest continued to attract the interest of real estate developers this year, considering that in the first nine months of 2018, lots with a cumulated surface of over 60 hectares on which around 8,000 dwellings, 180,000 square meters of offices as well as commercial spaces can be developed, according to an analysis of Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

In the first half of 2018, the total volume of modern office space at the main regional markets (Kraków, Wrocław, Tricity, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Szczecin and Lublin) exceeded 4,637,000 sqm. Analysts of Cushman & Wakefield report a high absorption level caused by intensified lessee activity in 2017 and pre-rental agreements of office real estate which is to enter the market this year. As a result, despite a large spike in office space supply, the vacancy rate has gone down.

Airbnb activity in Budapest shows strong growth in overnight stays in 2017, reaching almost 1.5 million, which represents an increase of 35% y-o-y. The top 3 neighbourhoods (District V, VI and VII) account for 69% of the total Airbnb bookings in Budapest, says the latest Budapest city report on Airbnb released by Colliers International and Hotelschool The Hague. All data is directly provided from Airbnb through AirDNA’s authentic source.

In Central and Eastern Europe, hotel owners are experiencing record months in terms of average daily rates which was the primary driver of the double-digit RevPAR (Revenue per available room) growth recorded by central European cities in 2017. The growing trend was also seen in the first half of this year (H1 2018). The only exception was Warsaw where RevPAR dropped slightly due to declining occupancy, yet the prices of rooms increased as in other capitals. The higher room rates translated to notable gains in hotels’ profitability which brought significant interests from investors. The lack of hotel properties available for sale and shortage of development sites in prime locations is turning attention to conversions of existing buildings into hotels. As the demand continues to grow and the development pipeline remains limited in most markets (except for Warsaw and Vienna), profitability is expected to stay strong also in the coming years.

Real estate professionals surveyed by the RICS in Q2 2018 now believe that the Czech investment market has reached the peak of the current cycle while the Hungarian and Polish markets are also close to peaking. Nevertheless, market sentiment is still positive on both the occupier and investment market in all CEE countries monitored by the RICS Commercial Property Monitor, including Croatia and Romania.

Given the dynamic changes occurring within organizations and the evolving business environment, the old office models are no longer working. At the same time, the market, which has in recent years experienced a strong increase in supply on the one hand, and a significant transformation of the labour market, e.g. evolution of work styles, on the other one, is more and more willing to welcome new workplace strategies.