The Q4 2021 results of the RICS Global Commercial Property Monitor indicate a continued improvement in market sentiment across Europe compared to the previous quarters, with progress particularly evident on the investment side of the market. That said, conditions remain polarised at the sector level, with the latest feedback still signalling a challenging set of circumstances for retail while industrials continue to post robust expectations for the twelve months ahead.

Duna House has released its monthly transaction estimate, showing that there were 10,815 residential property transactions in Hungary in January 2022. Although this corresponds to a 3.3% decline over the same month of 2021, it is in the same league as the first months of the years between 2017 and 2019.

Cushman & Wakefield presented the findings of its survey conducted among executives representing over 30 leading international hotel operators in its latest report. The survey was completed in December 2021 by hotel operators with a presence or interest in entering the CEE region.

Poland’s investment market continued to attract significant investment activity in 2021 with an annual transaction volume of €5.9 billion. A record number (166) of transactions were closed by 80 active investors, according to Avison Young’s annual investment market summary. The company expects that 2022 will see the great comeback of the office sector through increased interest in core and core+ assets in both Warsaw and regional cities.

Total demand amounted to 237,475 sqm in Q4 2021, indicating a 115% increase over Q4 2020 and making 2021 a record year in terms of total demand, according to the Budapest Research Forum’s latest industrial market snapshot.

According to Savills, the last quarter of 2021 was the busiest of the year for commercial real estate investment, with 30 closed transactions and a total volume exceeding €628 million. This was the highest quarterly volume of real estate investment since Q1 2020 and a 23% improvement on Q4 2020 volume.

Investors brushed aside concerns about the impact of the omicron variant to make the final quarter one of the biggest of 2021 for European property, with major markets posting near-record trading volumes, according to the latest capital markets snapshot for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) released by Colliers.

As of Q4 2021, over 1,100,000 sqm of Class A warehouse space was under construction on the Czech market, representing an increase of 23% compared to the previous quarter and ca. 240% increase compared to the same period last year. The Industrial Research Forum announced industrial market figures for Q4 2021.

Gross take-up on the Prague office market for the whole year of 2021 increased by 16% compared to the previous year to the level of 387,100 sqm. Prime headline rents also increased in Q4 2021 and ranged between €23.50–24.00 per sqm per month in the city centre. The Prague Research Forum published office market figures for Q4 2021.

The Polish Chamber of Commercial Property (PINK) has published figures on the office market in Warsaw for Q4 2021. 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.