The Czech hospitality market has been achieving above-average performance rates thanks to a steadily growing number of tourists. This has had a positive effect on hospitality properties whose yields ranging between 6% and 7% are noticeably higher than the yields in other commercial sectors, specifically retail, office and industrial. They are also attractive with rents guaranteed for a long time. As a result, converting office space into hospitality facilities is becoming a frequent choice among both domestic and international investors. Czech operators can compete with foreign ones quite capably and tend to be the preferred choice for hotel owners. Just about 14% of the local market operators are international brands.

Knight Frank has launched The Wealth Report, a study on global wealth. This year’s edition shows that the number of ultra-wealthy people (those with net assets of $50 million or more) rose by 10% in 2017 – taking the global population to 129,730, with a combined worth of $26.4 trillion.

The pace of change in property is undoubtedly getting faster. The way real estate is being built, managed and valued is being digitised which means that sooner or later many of the current job titles will disappear. Property Forum reports from MIPIM where a discussion held on the Colliers International boat provided a deep insight into the future of the property business.

Austria (+74%), Romania (+54%), the Netherlands (+46%), and Denmark (+32%) experienced the greatest annual increases in commercial property investment in 2017, as total investment across Europe rose to €234 billion, a 7% increase year-on-year, according to.

Warsaw, Poland’s capital and largest city, has a population of more than 1.75 million. It is also the country’s biggest labour market and home to many university-level schools with a strong R&D sector. It boasts a relatively low unemployment rate which stood at 5.6% at year-end 2017 and the highest gross monthly salary averaging €1,300 (PLN 5,432). Warsaw is growing at a rapid pace, combining modernity with history, new business districts with green areas, the latter accounting for 28% of the city’s total area in 2017, and investing in both public transport and alternative means of transport (including 400 km of cycle lanes as at the end of 2017). Cushman & Wakefield has launched its latest report Warsaw 2020 on Warsaw’s future and major developments transforming the city’s skyline

Up to 500,000 sqm of office space was leased in 2017 by companies from the business services sector. The positive trend should continue in 2018. According to the estimates by ABSL, 50 new centres will likely open in the upcoming months, which will, in turn, lead to high demand for office space. JLL analysed the activity of companies from the business services sector in Poland in 2017.

In 2017, Tricity’s office space absorption hit a record high of 79,400 sqm, compared to the five-year average of more than 58,000 sqm. Leasing conditions in the region hold stable, says tenant-only real estate advisory firm Cresa.

Retail and hotel sectors recorded highest investment volumes in the Croatian commercial property market in 2017. According to information available and Colliers’s estimate, 2017 brought more than €320 million investment in transactions of 22 investment properties. This does not include pending transactions or confidential deals.

London ranked as Europe's most attractive city for businesses and employees for second year running, according to Colliers International's latest European Cities of Influence report, which reviews and ranks cities based on their occupier attractiveness, availability of talent, and quality of life factors alongside economic output and productivity; Paris, Madrid, Moscow and Birmingham making up the rest of the top five.

EPP published its financial results for the full-year of 2017. During the period, the distributable income was at €76.6 million, exceeding the forecasts. At the same time, the company kept building its strong presence in Poland’s key cities, while EPP-owned properties enjoyed growing footfall and increasing sales. The value of asset portfolio rose by 29%, to €1.95 billion.