As technology has taken an increasingly important strategic role in the evolution and development of real estate, the challenges facing the people leading that innovation charge are becoming apparent.

Build-to-rent (PRS), industrial and offices are the asset classes that will continue to attract investments in CEE this year, although a prolonged geopolitical crisis could hamper development plans, commented speakers during Property Forum’s latest online event which aimed to provide a property investment outlook for 2022.

Realized prices of flats in Slovakia rose by more than 10 % in Q4 2021. Prices of sales recorded in the cadastre of the real estate continued to grow dynamically at the end of 2021, dwellings were sold more expensive by more than 10 % year-on-year, and prices rose by 3.6 % compared to the summer months, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic announced.

Reducing carbon emissions is surely becoming a top priority for landlords especially since numerous investors have committed to reaching net-zero emissions. At the same time, they’re also discovering that digital tools can help improve occupancy in office buildings which often stand half-empty these days due to widespread remote working. It’s high time for the industry to use disruptive technology and invest in digitization to improve utilization of space and reduce carbon emissions, says a new report on ESG and digitalization in the office market by workcloud24.

Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG (pbb) concluded the 2021 financial year with a pre-tax profit of €242 million, thereby exceeding by 60% the previous year’s results, which were burdened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted such a unified response from the international business community that has probably not been observed since the creation of the internet. Companies across the world are standing with Ukraine, discontinuing their operations in Russia and taking their part in helping the victims of the war. Real estate companies in CEE have also stepped up to donate money, space and other resources to those in need. We’ve compiled a list of the humanitarian efforts announced by local and global companies. Luckily, the list below is not complete as many new announcements are made every day. We’ll keep updating it.

Low interest rates and high inflation continue to drive demand for investment properties with the residential asset class remaining highly popular. As more and more private individuals, family offices and trusts are diversifying their portfolios, Arnold Investments has greatly expanded their commercial property segment. Investments in critical retail properties, logistics and offices are currently interesting, but hotels are also performing surprisingly well. Multinational brokerage firm Arnold Investments, which supported almost 100 transactions in 2021, summarised key investment market trends in Austria and other regional countries.

JRD Group sold real assets worth CZK 1.054 billion in 2021, increased the capacity of photovoltaic power plants in Hungary to 30 MWp and commissioned a new prototype plasma gasification reactor. The JRD Land and JRD Development divisions were also strengthened, the company announced in its annual report.   

Globalworth’s adjusted normalised EBITDA decreased by 8.1% to €130.2 million in 2021, compared to €141.6 million in 2020, due to a lower net operating income. Net profit significantly improved to €47.5 million (2020: net loss of €46.8 million) due to marginal revaluation losses of €5.7 million in 2021 compared to the €116.2 million revaluation losses in 2020. The company published its unaudited financial results for 2021

Duna House has released its monthly transaction estimate, showing that there were 13,793 residential property transactions in Hungary in February 2022. While this is 5 percent lower than in February 2021, it is 5 percent higher than the results of the same month in 2020.