The Central Bank of Hungary (MNB) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors relaunched the questionnaire-based survey research on Budapest’s commercial real estate market, with the review period of H2 2017. Over the preceding two years the typical rent for commercial properties observed for most property types has increased by more than 15 percent until the end of the second half of 2017. Prime yields for the office market and shopping centres approached the historical minimum observed in 2007 with 10-25 basis points. Most of the survey respondents expect an increase in demand in both the investment and the tenant markets for commercial properties in the next 6 months, however, with regards the development activity, the majority of respondents foresee an unchanged level or a drop in demand for several types of property.

On 29 March 2018, the fourth edition of SEE Property Forum in Bucharest, organized by Property Forum in partnership with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) will gather leading real estate professionals and top executives from South Eastern Europe to analyse the potential of the Romanian real estate market from a global perspective. Nearly 50 speakers and more than 250 visitors will come together in the Romanian capital, creating a unique networking opportunity.

Atrium European Real Estate Limited announces its results for 2017. The company is focusing on owning quality assets in well-connected, strong, urban locations in the region's largest and strongest economies. 20 smaller assets were sold during 2017 and early 2018 for €80 million, with the effective exit from Hungary and the Czech portfolio rotation completed.

Student housing is becoming an increasingly attractive investment product in European markets. StudentMarketing, a global market intelligence consultancy, summarised the most important findings of the European Residential & Student Housing Investment Briefing at MIPIM.

Industrial, and specifically logistics, is the most sought-after real estate sector for European investors, overtaking office for the first time, according to CBRE’s annual EMEA Investor Intentions Survey. In 2017 Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London were the five most sought-after destinations in Europe for investors who are actively pursuing alternative opportunities due to aggressive asset pricing and limited availability of core stock. In Hungary steadily improving developer sentiment and potential platform deals could pave the way for rising turnover in the sector.

Retail space deliveries will accelerate towards 200,000 square meters in 2018, as new projects and extensions are scheduled in ten medium-size towns and cities across Romania, but no significant delivery is scheduled in capital Bucharest this year, according to reports released by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

By the end of 2017, total retail stock in the Warsaw agglomeration amounted to 1.76 million sqm, of which shopping centres accounted for 1.2 million sqm. Other formats include retail parks (276,000 sqm), standalone retail objects (212,000 sqm) and outlet centres (57,000 sqm). Approximately 85,000 sqm of space was delivered to the Warsaw retail market last year with the largest completed object being Galeria Północna (64,000 sqm). Furthermore, the saturation level in the shopping centre format totalled 472 sqm / 1,000 inhabitants and was the third lowest rate among the eight major metropolitan areas nationwide. JLL summarised 2017 on the retail market in the Warsaw agglomeration.

GTC closed 2017 with a €105 million development profit. The company acquired Belgrade Business Center (17,700 sqm) in September 2017 and the Cascade office building (4,200 sqm) in Bucharest in August 2017 for a total sum of €46 million. GTC presented its 2017 financial results.

Although nearly 120,000 square meters of new industrial / logistics space was delivered to the Budapest market in 2017 which is almost double of the figure delivered in 2016. It may still occur that by the end of the year the available warehouse units with 5,000 sqm+ space will disappear from the Budapest market and its surrounding area, according to Colliers International's latest industrial property market report.

New projects are building up slowly, the number of commenced constructions are declining and high demand remains. At the end of last year, approximately 8,100 units were under construction in Prague. This is the lowest result since 2014. The total number of completions reached 6,176 apartments which is 5% below 2016 levels. 2018 will most probably not bring a major change, rather the opposite. In 2018, the construction of around 3,800 new flats will commence, the lowest figure since 2009. About 5,000 units will be completed, marking a significant decline compared to 2017.