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Property markets in CEE have solid building blocks and the region can attract more investment across the commercial sector, with industrial and private student housing standing out, concluded speakers at the CEE Investment Update London 2023 event last week, organised by Property Forum and RICS.

According to Workthere.pl’s latest Flexmark report, larger companies (101+ people) and scale-ups (21-100 people) now account for 54% of global flexible office members, compared with 42% of members last year. The flexible office specialist notes that this increase is also reflected in take-up levels with these larger companies accounting for 34% of global take-up in flexible offices, compared to 22% in 2022 and just 13% in 2020.

In Q3 2023, the Prague office market grew by more than 60,000 sqm of modern offices. This was the best result since mid-2020. No further similar peak is expected in the next three years at least, as no new construction has started for more than a year. Although investors are placing increasing emphasis on the sustainability of buildings, benchmark rental prices are not changing fundamentally, while landlords are trying to attract more generous allowances or longer lease holidays, Colliers reports.

In this year's 33rd edition of the Cushman & Wakefield Main Streets Across the World ranking, the Czech Republic ranked 19th. The survey compares nearly 50 countries around the world by the level of retail rents on the most expensive shopping street in each country, and for the second time the Czech Republic is represented by Paris Street. It ranks 19th among the world's most expensive shopping streets, 11th in Europe and first in the CEE region. The highest rent achieved in Pařížská, as of the third quarter of this year, is €2,700 per sqm per annum, i.e. approximately €225 per sqm per month. 

In the third quarter of 2023, the European Union investment market exhibited restrained performance, registering a transaction volume of €23 billion which, in turn, represents a noteworthy year-on-year decline of 57%. The cumulative transaction volume for the initial three quarters of 2023 amounted to approximately €80.4 billion, with domestic investors accounting for 53% of these transactions. Markus Arnold, the CEO and sole proprietor of Arnold Investments, observes "a sustained trend where equity-strong private investors continue to be highly active". The leading asset class on the European investment market remained offices with a transaction volume of €24.3 billion, comprising 30% of the total, followed by residential properties (€16.5 billion; 21%) and retail properties (€14 billion; 17%).

The Czech industrial real estate market has experienced a major boom in construction activity in 2023. Although there is currently more than 1.5 million sqm of space under construction, there are few newly completed projects and the vacancy rate remains below 2%. The total supply of modern industrial space in the Czech Republic increased by only 182,200 sqm during Q3 2023, bringing the total to 11.44 million sqm at the end of September. Rents have stabilised after rocketing over the last three years and at the end of September were between €7.50-7.70 per sqm per month for warehouse space and €9.50-12.50 per sqm per month for office space, reported, according to a Colliers survey. 

Total transaction volume in Q3 2023 in Belgrade was €456 million, which represents a decrease of around 21% year-on-year, according to real estate agency Cordon’s report for Q3 2023.

As elsewhere, the investment market in Poland is struggling with high interest rates and financing costs. Some asset classes though, such as flats for rent and warehouses, remain a desirable commodity among investors - this is how the panel discussion focusing on investment and financing trends at Future of Real Estate 2023 can be summarised. The event was organised by Property Forum and RICS in Warsaw this week.

Property Forum is proud to announce the first edition of its annual listing of the 50 most influential people in the Polish real estate market. To access the publication, fill out the pop-up window that appears on this page.

Over the past decade, Hungarian real estate investors have successfully expanded outside of their home market. Firms such as Wing, Futureal, Adventum, Indotek and others have become major players in many European countries, mainly Poland and Romania. They managed to expand via acquisitions of both companies and projects. Part of their funds came from bond issues in Hungary within the Bond Funding for Growth Scheme of the National Bank of Hungary. We have prepared a timeline of the notable transactions and an overview of the market’s key players to provide a better understanding of this trend.