Romanian industrial and logistics gross take-up increased in 2017 by almost 15% to over 525,000 square meters, registering a new record level, JLL reports.

Class A office buildings in the downtown areas of Gdańsk and Gdynia will finally become available for lease, complementing office provision on the outskirts of the Tricity agglomeration. Tenants are likely to move to new headquarters in more prestigious locations, says Michał Rafałowicz, Head for the Pomeranian Region at advisory firm Cresa Poland.

Prologis announced fourth quarter and full year 2017 activity in Europe. During the past year Prologis started 40 developments, totalling 917,500 square metres.

New research from JLL challenges traditional approaches to evaluating city competitiveness by encouraging the global real estate market to rethink city performance metrics. In World Cities: Mapping the Pathways to Success, published in conjunction with The Business of Cities, JLL delves into global cities’ performance to evaluate their strengths and opportunities for real estate investors, developers and corporate occupiers.

Total demand on the Budapest industrial market amounted to 211,250 sqm in Q4 2017, marking a 58% year-on-year increase. The vacancy rate dropped to a new record low of 4%. The Budapest Research Forum published its quarterly industrial market analysis.

Total demand on the Budapest office market in Q4 2017 reached 144,365 sqm, representing a 13% decrease year-on-year. The office vacancy rate has decreased to 7.5%, the lowest rate on record. The Budapest Research Forum published its latest figures.

In 2017 the Bucharest office market has posted results close to the 2016 record ones, taking into consideration transactions in Class A and B buildings. 2018 is expected to bring growth and new demand from players that are going to enter the market, but also of the existent ones who will extend or relocate. The annual Knight Frank report – European Commercial Property Outlook – estimates that European commercial property markets enter 2018 with positive momentum.

Last year, the total value of land transactions in Romania for real estate projects (excluding the industrial segment) increased significantly from 2016, exceeding the €350 million threshold at the national level. According to Colliers International, about 70% of this value was ascribed to the capital, where land transactions for residential development represented more than half of the investment volume.

The Polish retail market witnessed a large number of interesting developments throughout 2017. Magdalena Sadal, Head of Retail Research and Advisory at Cresa Poland presented an outlook for 2018.

In 2017 the large number of office projects delivered across Poland filled up quickly as occupier demand remained robust. Traditional drivers of demand were joined by emerging trends that are shaping the future of the office market and commercial real estate as a whole. Bolesław Kołodziejczyk, Phd, Head of Research & Advisory at Cresa Poland analysed the Polish office market.