There are already a lot of long-term plans for rebuilding the country and revitalizing its cities, but businesses face day-to-day challenges. The office market suffered the most but retail is relatively healthy in the Western part of the country, experts informed at a special panel dedicated to the future rebuilding of Ukraine at CEE Property Forum 2022 in Vienna. 

While prior to the pandemic, as many as 76% of organisations employed people to work exclusively in the office, only 24% of organisations surveyed by Colliers say they will adopt the same hiring strategy in the future. With this significant change, we are seeing new developments in the labour market – employees’ expectations towards employers are changing, as well as the way office space is designed, which today must meet the needs of a hybrid workforce. The Colliers report Hybrid and Beyond, prepared in association with partners HRK S.A. and Well.hr, shows the most important aspects of implementing hybrid work in companies operating in the Polish market.

The flow of international capital to Mediterranean countries is still very strong but investors seem reluctant to put more money into the office and retail sectors due to growing economic uncertainties, panellists emphasized in the discussion at the recent CEE Property Forum 2022 in Vienna.

The volume of investments in commercial real estate reached a total value of €368 million in the Czech real estate market in Q3 2022. Most of the investment transactions were mainly in the office and retail segments. Czech investors were the most active investors in this period. Demand for prime real estate is still stronger than what is on offer on the market, Knight Frank said in its report.

Despite the strong recovery of travel demand and the wall of capital looking for opportunities, transaction activity in the EU hotel market in the first half of 2022 remained flat compared to the same period last year. Nevertheless, there are five countries that are recording notable growth in transaction activity, says Cushman & Wakefield's European Hotel Market Report for H1 2022.

Although financing has become more expensive for real estate companies in the past 12 months, transactions are still being carried out, pointed out speakers in the financing strategies panel of CEE Property Forum 2022 in Vienna.

Any uncertainly around the future of Europe’s economy this year has so far failed to dampen demand for logistics space, with take up in H1 already 12% ahead of last year’s record. According to Savills, this is mainly due to the uplift in take-up of space in the Germany (4,61 milion sqm) and UK (3,93 milion sqm), while Poland (3,83 milion sqm) stands third among analysed countries.

One of the most important questions among the participants of CEE Property Forum 2022 in Vienna was “Is it still safe to invest in real estate located in Central and Eastern Europe?”. The answer is positive. It is still safe, though not everywhere.

The Czech logistics and industrial real estate markets are reporting new record numbers for the first half of 2022, and the records are certainly not over. Shopping centres and retail parks are also enjoying success, and many new spaces in this segment are expected to be completed in the next two years. Last but not least, the office market has also been doing well with almost 50,000 sqm of office space opened and half of it already pre-leased, while another almost 30,000 sqm will be completed this year, according to an analysis by CBRE experts. 

Investments in the private rented sector (PRS) and industrial projects continue to grow in Central and Eastern Europe despite economic and geopolitical challenges, concluded speakers during the investment strategies panel at CEE Property Forum 2022 in Vienna.