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Serbia’s construction market was booming when the economic and geopolitical situation changed, so the complicating circumstances in the world are stifling the potential growth and slowing down the ongoing recovery. Inflationary pressures have exploded with the start of the war in Ukraine and the effects of the current crisis are still unforeseeable, writes Dejan Krajinović from Beobuild Core d.o.o. for EECFA Serbia.

As the pandemic forced many of us to shift a work-from-home routine, some people predicted that “the office is a dead concept” and that it will never return. I would agree that the office as we knew it is actually really dead, but the “new office” is here and all of us need to adapt to it, writes Petr Florián, Associate Director, Office Leasing at Avison Young in the Czech Republic for Property Forum in an opinion piece.

Vacancy went further up and only three new buildings have been added to the Budapest office market in the first quarter of 2022. Total demand reached 80,750 sqm, representing a 7% increase year-on-year, the Budapest Research Forum (BRF) reports.

The latest report from research firm Spectis indicates that following a strong start to the year, the outlook for the construction sector over the coming months of 2022 is now less bright. The expected slowdown can be indirectly caused by the ongoing war in Ukraine, which only aggravates the problems the market has been facing previously, such as soaring prices of raw materials, building materials, and energy sources or the shortage of labour.

For Croatia, as for other EECFA countries, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been both a supply shock and a demand shock. And many of the elements of these shocks are the same for Croatia as for other EECFA countries. On the supply side, energy costs are rising as are the costs of construction materials and of construction finance. Supply chains and labour markets have also been disrupted. On the demand side, inflation has cut into consumers’ real disposable income, consumer confidence has been shaken as a result and finance for real estate purchases has become more expensive, says Michael Glazer, SEE Regional Advisor at EECFA Croatia.

One of the most important factors for decision making in any business these days is understanding and complying with ESG standards. If a company wants to grow and be successful, it should follow the needs of customers and investors much more than ever before, said the experts of the ESG panel at Bratislava Property Forum 2022.

The 2021 financial year brought a massive increase in Immofinanz’s earning power. The results of operations rose by roughly 46% to €210.1 million and clearly topped the previous year as well as the pre-crisis period in 2019. Net profit improved significantly to €345.8 million, compared with the crisis-related loss of €-165.9 million in the previous year.

There is currently over 46 million sqm of industrial space in the CEE region, of which one-fifth is in the Czech Republic and the largest part – more than a half – in Poland. There is more than 900 sqm of industrial space per thousand inhabitants in the country. Just 1.6% of the space in Czechia is currently vacant. A record-breaking 1,112,000 sqm is currently under development in the Czech Republic – the highest figure in history. Demand on the part of logistics, distribution and e-commerce companies is growing. Cushman & Wakefield has analysed the trends in the industrial property sector in five Central European countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) in 2021.

As a result of the war in Ukraine, almost all companies are dealing with completely new situations and facing unexpected problems. The experts of the first panel of Bratislava Property Forum 2022 discussed how investment strategies have to adapt to the new situation.

The end of April marks one year since the announcement of the acquisition of the Aupark Bratislava shopping centre.  The actual change in the shareholder structure took place on 27 May 2021, after the financial and investment group Wood & Company bought a stake in Aupark from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW). The acquisition, worth a total of €450 million, has been hailed as the largest real estate transaction in Slovakia's history up to this date. The real estate fund AUP Bratislava, which was established in connection with the transaction, announced the amount of revenues for the year 2021.