In the CEE region, Prague placed second in terms of the price of fitting out an office. With €1,159 being the average cost per square metre in Prague, it is just over half of what is standard in top cities in Germany or the UK, where costs often exceed €2,000. Compared with the last year, the prices have grown all over Europe due to inflation and other factors. The 10% increase in Prague means that office occupiers need to carefully consider their office usage and space needs when redesigning their offices. Sustainability and DE&I are also increasingly affecting fit-out requirements, reports Cushman & Wakefield in their latest analysis.

At the beginning of the pandemic, it seemed that many coworking centres or serviced offices could not survive the measures implemented under the Covid-19 pandemic. Shared workspaces, whose philosophy is based on meeting, personal communication, and collaboration, were hit hard by governmental restrictions. But a December analysis by JLL shows promising results; with the retreat of anti-pandemic measures, most coworking and serviced office operators have already felt a new wave of interest, and 2022 has confirmed this trend.

The total transaction volume for last year in Belgrade's residential market was €2.67 billion, which represents an increase of around 28% compared to the overall amount of €2.06 billion which was registered in the year 2021. This also represents the largest year-on-year increase in recent years, which was caused by the rise in transactions in Q2 when the Ukrainian war broke out, and the rise in transactions in Q4 when it became evident that rents in Belgrade doubled in certain parts of the city as a result of the influx of population from Ukraine and Russia, real estate agency Cordon reports.

In the year 2022, CPI Property Group became one of Europe's largest landlords. The CPIPG portfolio reached €20.9 billion, about €7.8 billion more than the year before due to several consolidations. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA was €608 million, while FFO1 was €355 million.

High inflation brings something that has not been seen in Czechia for a long time - a halt in the growth of residential property prices, especially flats. Prices of older flats are even falling. Frozen demand will soon hit construction companies. The housing market has slowed down considerably, and players are waiting for further economic development, says David Frič from STEM/MARK (the Euroconstruct member institute in Czechia).

After the start of the pandemic in 2020, and its surge in 2021, the past 12 months have brought renewed market activity in an attempt to offset the previous slowdown. The retail sector, construction, and the IT sector managed to avoid the recession and maintain their position as the least affected industries by the pandemic. The investment market in Bulgaria for the second half of 2022 recorded twice as high activity in terms of volume as in H1 2022, according to the Sofia City Report by JLL with the support of IPC Partners Bulgaria and Avalant. Foreign investors are less cautious to expand to unload their cash given the limited amount of opportunities.

Immofinanz Group delivered very good operating performance in 2022 in spite of the challenging environment. Sustainable FFO 1 from the standing investment business rose by 21.7%. Rental income increased by 5.4% to €300.2 million and the results of asset management by 7.2% to €226.1 million. The Group also has a very solid capital base with an equity ratio of 47.9% and conservative debt with a net LTV of 40.7%.

Europe’s largest retail estate fair, MIPIM, which took place in Cannes last week, has shown that the industry was on the move. Interestingly enough, the market mood is by no means as negative as is frequently suggested. On the contrary, Arnold Investments reports lively interest from international investors. The focus is particularly on properties of up to €50 million. “Many deals are about to be finalized”, summarizes Markus Arnold, CEO and sole owner of Arnold Investments.

The year 2022 was a successful year for CTP, marked by stable growth and excellent business results. In 2022, the portfolio area in the Czech Republic was expanded by 300,000 sqm, bringing the total area to 3.8 million sqm. Rental income increased by 13% year-on-year to €230.3 million (CZK 5.7 billion). At present, CTP is the largest player in the Czech industrial-logistics property market with a 28% share. 

With 240 PropTech solutions at the beginning of 2023, the country is among the leaders in Europe in the field of smart cities, smart buildings, smart homes and water management.