19 % of all existing shopping centres in the Czech Republic have been refurbished to date. Further revitalizations are yet to be completed, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Romania ranks 6th in the top destinations in the data centres market in Europe, while the Nordics and the Netherlands occupy the first positions, according to Savills’ new Data Centre Investment Index. The number of data centres is multiplying to accommodate the surging demand for data storage. Thus, the need to have smaller scale domestic facilities to comply with data and privacy laws is set to lead to an uptick in activity across all of Europe.

Technology is changing the world of property all over the world. Here are our 10 key takeaways from PropTech360, Israel’s first global real estate and technology summit, hosted in Jerusalem last week.

In Q1 2018, Poland’s total warehouse and industrial stock amounted to more than 14.15 million sqm and another 1.90 million sqm was under construction, the largest quarterly development pipeline on record. Central Poland was the leading regional market, accounting for more than half of new supply and most of the leasing transaction volume.

Poznań is constantly evolving. This is mirrored by the excellent results recorded on the city’s office market. New thriving companies are establishing operations in Poznań while firms already present in the city are expanding their business. All of these factors are boosting demand in Poznań for modern office space, according to JLL.

The valuation department of the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox has evaluated over 700 properties in 2017 with a cumulative value of €3.1 billion, while estimating an increase of 33% of the valuation volume, to the level of €4 billion during this year.

In Q1 2018, Warsaw’s vacancy rate fell to its lowest in five years while absorption amounted to 45,000 sqm, down by nearly 30% on the average observed over the last five years, according to Cresa.

Political risk seems not to be affecting the performance of CEE markets. Members of the investment panel at the Portfolio-RICS Valuation & Investment 2018 conference in Budapest are confident about the future of the market and view industrial/logistics and retail as the most attractive asset classes.

Cushman & Wakefield has published a summary of the first quarter of 2018 on Poland’s regional office markets. Following the record-breaking performance in 2017, the total office stock of regional cities rose by 3% q/q by the end of Q1 2018 to 4.5 million sqm. The average vacancy rate for the regional markets was down 0.6 p.p. at 9.3%. The largest concentration of development activity is in Wrocław and Krakow.

Digitisation and automation are transforming the property business, not just in Western Europe but in CEE markets as well. 200 people came together at the second Prague Property Forum 2018, a conference organised by Property Forum and RICS, where an international group of speakers discussed the effects of technology on the property business.