Speedwell has secured a loan of €13.6 million from Garanti Bank for the development of the third phase of The Ivy residential project in northern Bucharest.  

Romania ranks third in the top of the European countries with the cheapest housing, after Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece, with an average price of €1,417 per sqm, according to a Deloitte report. Homes prices in Romania rose by 10.6% compared to 2021. 

Offices might become hotels, hotels can be converted into apartment buildings and warehouses may serve as retail centres. But location, revenue-generating capacity and environmental considerations are the most important factors in converting successfully an existing commercial property, say experts of Hungarian developer Wing. Ernő Takács, Deputy CEO, responsible for hotels and retail at Wing and Chairman of the Association of Hungarian Property Developers and Gábor Angel, Deputy CEO, responsible for offices at Wing, talked to Property Forum about the challenges of changing the use of a property.

The residential estate market in Bulgaria cooled down in Q2 2023, with a 15% decrease in the number of transactions compared to the same period in 2022. This was due to several factors, including rising interest rates on mortgage loans, inflation, and economic uncertainty. Buyers have become more prudent, not rushing into purchases, and often negotiating discounts ranging from 5% to 10% off the initial property sale price. These are the conclusions made by Arco Real Estate for Q2 2023.

Monica Dudău, Marketing Manager, Storia.ro & OLX Imobiliare spoke to Property Forum about the development plans of the two digital platforms dedicated to real estate professionals and the role of technology in streamlining sales in the local residential sector.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s primary residential market has stalled for some time with the number of transactions in 2022 significantly decreasing. In 2023, however, most developers are observing positive trends and slow but steady growth. Iryna Nastych summarised the situation in an article prepared by the Ukrainian Real Estate Club for Property Forum.

A new residential district with almost 240 flats will be built in Ostrava's most populous district Jih. The project in Středoškolská will also include parking spaces, a park, and sports facilities. The investor will be Linkcity Czech Republic, which will pay a minimum of CZK 29 million excluding VAT (€1.2 million) for the land. Gabriela Pokorná, a spokeswoman for the municipality, told reporters, according to the ČTK news agency.

Belgrade’s residential market is not cooling down with demand remaining strong and price growth continuing, according to real estate agency Cordon’s report for Q2 2023.

Tomáš Vrbický, Founder of Czech development company Noho, talked to Property Forum about the recent energy crisis's positive impact on the sustainable housing approach. According to him, the crises also helped people to think about “green” housing more deeply and be more willing to pay extra for such living with unique solutions for energy savings as it can enormously reduce energy costs in the future.

Developer J&T Real Estate is currently completing the Eurovea II project in Bratislava and the new multifunctional Ganz House project could soon be underway too, real estate website yimba.sk reports.