The vacancy rate on the Warsaw office market reached 13.9% at the end of June, with gross take up in H1 2017 nearly reaching 400,000 sqm. The Polish Office Research Forum has published its figures for Q2 2017 for the office market in Warsaw. 

Construction cranes are a common sight when walking around Budapest, marking the rapid property development taking place. Soon, scores of office buildings will appear out of nowhere. The changes are especially dramatic on Váci Road. Just a few minutes’ walk north of the metro station on Dózsa György Road there are three adjacent construction sites. But there are developments in progress all over the city, paving the way for new business centres.  

Net take-up of office spaces in Bucharest amounted to almost 80,000 sqm in the first half of the year, which means an additional 10,000 jobs, considering that companies usually allocate for each employee 8 square meters. In total, gross take-up reached 185,000 sqm in H1 2017, a small decrease when compared to first 6 month of last year (192,000 sqm), JLL reports.

Total demand on the Budapest industrial property market amounted to 212,750 sqm in Q2 2017, which is the highest quarterly volume ever on record. The Budapest Research Forum published its quarterly industrial market analysis.

During H1 2017, the retail stock in Poland grew by 63,100 sqm. Shopping centres accounted for 16,600 sqm, retail parks for 21,500 sqm and standalone projects for 25,000 sqm. Recent market openings include standalone store Agata Meble (18,000 sqm) in Rzeszów, retail park Kalinka (9,700 sqm) in Kalisz as well as Tarasy Grabiszyńskie centre (8,500 sqm) in Wrocław. JLL summarised H1 2017 on the retail market in Poland.

The Budapest office market vacancy rate has decreased to 8.6% in Q2 2017, which is the lowest rate ever on record.  Renewals were the major driver of the leasing activity while no new buildings were completed in the quarter. The Budapest Research Forum published its newest figures.

According to Savills, the total volume of commercial property investment transactions concluded Q2 2017 in Poland exceeded €1 billion. Investor activity is high, driven mainly by portfolio transactions. 

With a 4.8%-GDP growth in 2016 and the highest estimated growth rate in 2017 among EU member states, Romania has become an increasingly attractive destination for regional operations centres. The tax and legal regimes along with the geographic location, as well as the highly yet not so costly labour force are some of the key ingredients contributing to the country’s attractiveness, according to the Recipe for successful tax, law & real estate of regional operations centres in Romania report prepared by Deloitte Romania, Reff & Associates- Deloitte Legal together with Knight Frank. 

There are currently 192 retail parks in the Czech Republic, moreover 66 retail parks, totalling approximately area of 300 000 sqm, are planned to be constructed. The existing parks account for more than 790 000 sqm of retail space, 752 000 sqm of which is occupied. Hence the vacancy rate stands at 4,8% and is lower than in the previous years. These are the findings of Cushman & Wakefield’s recent detailed market research. The survey results are summed up in a map that is just being released. The map includes all existing and planned retail parks in the Czech Republic. 

According to its analysis of the Czech industrial & logistics market, CBRE monitors a significant increase in end-user demand and resulting developer and construction activity in the still relatively unestablished location of Northwest Bohemia. Combined with already strong activity in West Bohemia, the region of West Northwest Bohemia currently represents the most active region in the terms of construction activity for the first time in history and even outpacing the Greater Prague Region. The West Northwest Bohemia region will be a driver of new supply in 2017 and together with the Greater Prague area will account for approximately 80% of newly to be delivered space in the Czech Republic in 2017.