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.

PINK has published figures on the office market in Warsaw for Q1 2022. The data is sourced from advisory companies from the commercial real estate sector (BNP Paribas Real Estate, CBRE, Colliers, Cushman&Wakefield, JLL, Knight Frank, Newmark Polska, Savills) and includes information on modern office stock, new completions, take-up volumes and vacancy rates.

Once again, in Q4 2021, the Czech Republic registered the strongest house price growth within the EU, both in a year-on-year (25.8%) and a quarter-on-quarter (5.7%) comparison, well above the EU averages of 10% and 2.1%, respectively, according to Eurostat’s house price index.

​Given that the global tech giants are primarily headquartered outside Europe, analysing the recent trends in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) can help to identify which locations are proving attractive for data centre operations. Cushman & Wakefield’s latest findings confirm that the largest investment activity continues in mature tech and financial hubs in Western Europe. A key driver for activity in this group of locations is the proximity to the high economic activity of these increasingly digitised markets, writes Dimitris Vlachopoulos, Partner, Head of Portfolio & Location Strategy, EMEA for Cushman & Wakefield.

Europe’s fundamental mismatch between voracious housing demand and the limited supply is driving massive investment growth in the residential sector and will continue to generate opportunities even amid geopolitical and economic uncertainties, according to a new report by Colliers.

The impact assessment of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine on the Slovenian construction market must take into account the current volatile situation associated with the pandemic. Even before the war in Ukraine started, building material manufacturers reduced their capacity, either due to logistics problems resulting from the global closure of countries or due to declining demand. As the last wave of the pandemic ended, supply failed to keep up with increased demand and construction material prices began to rise, writes Dr Aleš Pustovrh (Bogatin d.o.o.) for EECFA Slovenia.