2016’s record-breaking €12.2 billion investment in the real estate sector in the CEE region is likely to be surpassed in 2017 – this is according to CEE Real Estate Investment Compass 2017 published by Colliers International and CMS. The sources of investment flows into the CEE region are also expected to remain diverse in 2017, with Asian and CEE investors becoming increasingly active in the real estate market.

Key players of the Romanian property market are highly optimistic about the future. They expect strong demand to last for several more years and major changes to happen in almost all segments of the market. 50 speakers and more than 200 visitors came together at SEE Property Forum 2017, co-organised by Property Forum and RICS, to analyse the potential of the Romanian real estate market from a global perspective. Here’s our second report from Bucharest.

In 2017, following its international assessment, CBRE has created a survey among real estate investors in Hungary asking them about their market expectations. At the CBRE Investment Breakfast investors turned out to be optimistic about the future. 43% of the respondents stated that the investment market might grow even by one-fifth from last year’s €1.5 billion and 23% stated that this year they might reach their highest turnover ever.

2016 saw a total of 585,700 sqm of office space leased on the eight largest regional markets in Poland (Kraków, Wrocław, Tri-City, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Szczecin and Lublin). Wrocław accounted for 124,500 sqm of this overall volume. This excellent result meant that Lower Silesia's capital city was second among regional markets, after Kraków, in terms of office demand. JLL summarised 2016 on the office market in Wrocław.

Colliers International and Advisory Group TEST Human Resources have presented their analysis of the industrial market in Poland. The report presents the state of the industrial market in 9 locations: three Warsaw zones, Upper Silesia, Central Poland, Poznań, Wrocław, Tricity, Kraków, Bydgoszcz and Toruń and Szczecin.

While individual markets in CEE have developed differently, the hotel market in the region as a whole has registered an upward trend in 2016, which makes it attractive for investors, Christie & Co reveals. The hotel property adviser has recently released its latest report on the Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) hotel market which examines market trends in major capitals across the region, namely Belgrade, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Prague and Warsaw. Christie & Co based some of their findings on performance data provided by STR.

The current forecast for total construction volumes in Hungary shows increases of 8% and 12% for 2017 and 2018, respectively. The barriers for the realization of the developments are the rise of construction costs and the lack of skilled labour force. CBRE expects that these issues raise risks of delivery delays and decrease of developers’ profit margins.

Paris claimed top spot in Colliers International’s Hotel Investment Attractiveness Index, an analysis of the investment climate of 20 European cities, despite predictions that investors and tourists would lose faith in the city due to political uncertainty and the perceived threat following various national security breaches. Prague was ranked in 10th place in the index, boosted by the low level of development costs and high number of tourist arrivals.

SEE Property Forum 2017, a real estate conference co-organised by Property Forum and RICS, has been held for the third time in Bucharest. 50 speakers and more than 200 visitors came together in the capital to analyse the potential of the Romanian real estate market from a global perspective.

Nearly half a million square meters of modern office space was delivered to the office market in the key Polish regional cities in 2016. The leader’s position was retained by Kraków, Lesser Poland’s capital, followed by, amongst others, Wrocław and the Tri-City. According to the report’s authors at BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland, current pipeline projects will also support the high growth dynamics in 2017.