The rapid growth of e-commerce is unlikely to put an end to existence of physical stores. Both online and offline platforms will co-exist, becoming increasingly intertwined. However, in-store technology innovations will change shopper behaviours in shopping centres. These are the key findings revealed in the Retail Revolutions report by Savills.

Occupier and investment sentiment continues to be positive across Central and Eastern Europe according to the RICS Commercial Property Monitor for Q1 2017. Similarly to last quarter, Hungary remains the most upbeat market globally with the Czech Republic also performing remarkably well. The picture is slightly more mixed in Croatia and Romania, still, near term momentum remains positive in the two markets.

Central Europe’s smallest capital has attracted a lot of interest from investors in 2016 with more and more major players keeping their eyes on Bratislava in 2017. Nearly 20 speakers and more than 100 guests came together in the Slovak capital at the first ever Bratislava Property Summit, organised by Property Forum in cooperation with RICS.

Some 75% of modern office stock in Prague is located within a 10-minute walk from a metro station, making the underground network a crucial feature of successful office projects in the Czech capital, according to Prague Office Metro Map,  the latest research from Colliers International.

In Q1 2017, Poland’s total Class A warehouse stock topped 11,613,000 sqm following the completion of nearly 533,000 sqm. Total take-up hit 925,000 sqm, representing a 45% increase, as revealed by Cushman & Wakefield in its latest report.

In 2017, 151,000 sqm of new office premises will be added to the Prague Market. This represents an increase of 13% above ten-year average. JLL listed the most important players on the office development market in Prague.

Investment flows into the CEE region rose 70% year-on-year in Q1 2017. The level of €2.8 billion is some €0.5 billion higher than the preliminary estimate of €2.3 billion Colliers International published at the beginning of April. Money invested into the Czech Republic  (56% share) and Hungary (19% share) contributed particularly to the significant jump. Looking within the numbers, the retail sector accounted for nearly half (47%) of the flows, leaving the office sector trailing with a 21% share. Of interest and also a sign of buoyant economic growth, the fastest growth was seen in the hotel sector with a portfolio transaction contributing to the €415mn total (a 15% share). 

The Czech property market saw exceptionally strong investment flows into commercial real estate in Q1 2017 worth €1.57 billion, which was almost double the transaction value compared with the same period of last year, according to Colliers International.

Poland’s industrial and warehouse sector recorded the strongest first quarter in its history. Schemes with the total area of 592,000 sqm were delivered to the market between January and the end of March, which represents as much as 45% of the total volume of 2016. BNP Paribas Real Estate highlights that the invariable driving force behind the market’s growth for the past several quarters have been businesses from the e-commerce sector.

The Budapest office market is booming and as the needs of tenants are changing, developers need to pay attention not only to sustainability but to employee well-being as well. Panelists at Portfolio’s FM & Office 2017 conference in Budapest talked about the future of the office market in the capital.