Cushman & Wakefield’s latest DNA of Real Estate research, covering trends in prime rents and yields across Europe, highlights further strengthening in leasing and investment markets in the first quarter of 2022 as economies fully reopen from the pandemic.

For the first quarter of 2022, the growth of the Czech industrial market and the recovery of industrial production were not stopped even by outages in the supply chains. This quarter also continued to see a sharp rise in rents in almost the entire country. The market for industrial premises will continue to grow, but over the year the full effects of the war in Ukraine will be felt and construction may slow down slightly, reports Colliers.

In Q1 2022, GTC’s adjusted EBITDA was at €26 million (€24 million in Q1 2021) and the net profit amounted to €15 million (€9 million in Q1 2021). This mainly resulted from a strong operating performance combined with profit from revaluation/impairment of assets of €3 million, partially offset by an increase in foreign exchange differences loss by €1 million.

After the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, real estate developers in Kyiv stopped working on construction sites and focused on defence processes. They handed over their equipment and materials for the construction of protective structures, created volunteer organizations, etc. By now, after the de-occupation of the settlements around the capital and the relative stabilization of the situation in Kyiv, some developers began to resume work on construction sites. Iryna Nastych summarised the situation in an article prepared by the Ukrainian Real Estate Club for Property Forum.

House prices in Hungary have reached a new record in 2021. In Q4 2021, the biggest jump occurred in secondary cities compared to the last quarter of 2020 (25% year-on-year) followed by Budapest (11% year-on-year), the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) reports.

Remote working has changed people's perception of their workplace and increased their need for facilities and experiences tailored to their dynamic lifestyle. New trends and design concepts show that offices of the future will be reshaped into campuses that will encompass facilities for the working and urban living trends of the future in a unique space, Gavin Bonner, Vice President of Genesis Property, writes for Property Forum in an opinion piece.

The Hungarian construction industry started off this year with an exceptionally high Activity Start indicator: nearly HUF 1,300 billion worth of construction works started in Q1 2022. The Activity Start of EBI Construction Activity Report in the first quarter is a new record (construction works have never started in such a high value in one quarter) and exceeded the level of Q2 2021 (the highest so far) by almost 37%. Yet, this spike is mainly thanks to the launch of two major infrastructure projects, according to the EBI Construction Activity Report, prepared by Buildecon, Eltinga (creation of indicators and development of algorithms for aggregation) and iBuild (project research and project database).

According to Yasen Georgiev from EPI, EECFA Bulgaria, like elsewhere in the EECFA countries that are not directly impacted by the war in Ukraine, the construction market in Bulgaria entered a period of an increasing unpredictability. What stands behind is an interplay between domestic and external factors.

The city of Ljubljana is expected to see some major urban change by 2025. As it was announced last month, a huge mixed-use project will be built next to the city’s planned new transportation hub, including a hotel, a shopping centre, offices and apartments. The Emonika project, which has a long history, will be developed by Mendota Invest, owned by Hungary’s OTP Real Estate Investment Fund. Property Forum summarised what we know about the project so far and how it could potentially transform Slovenia’s small and illiquid commercial real estate market.

The war launched by Russia on February 24th is still going on in Ukraine. Infrastructure facilities are being damaged every day. The cost of damages that experts share changes daily. According to the Centre for Economic Policy Research, the total expenses for reconstruction will range from $220 billion to $540 billion, writes Anna Nestulia, Principal at Invest in Projects for Property Forum.