Atrium European Real Estate Limited announced the sale of 18 assets in Hungary and one in the Czech Republic for a combined price of €70 million, representing an 8% premium to the book value as at 30 September 2017. The disposals form part of the company’s ongoing strategy to improve its portfolio through the selective rotation of capital towards high quality, well-established shopping centres which dominate their catchment areas.

Appeninn Nyrt. announced the purchase of a historic building in the centre of Budapest for €7 million through the acquisition of holding company Plaza House. Dávid House, located on Andrássy Road and formerly known as Andrássy Palace, has 2400 sqm GLA. It was transformed into a Class A office building in 2001.

The European retail market has changed drastically and market players looking to stay in the race need to invest in innovation. Although there is no definite recipe for success, the general consensus is that offline stores need to transform into places that provide an experience. Panellists at the RICS European Retail Conference 2018 in Milan provided an insight into the key industry developments

Recent changes in Sunday trading laws and commercial property tax regulations have not discouraged investors, both the existing well-established players as well as new entrants to the market. Similarly to the previous year, the portfolio transactions in 2018 are expected to account for a significant share in the total investment volume. Jędrzej Suchowolec, Senior Advisor at Cresa Poland, commented on current investors’ interest in retail properties.

Wing Zrt. has acquired a retail portfolio which includes the EuroCenter Óbuda shopping centre as well as two properties in the regional city of Szombathely. The company has over ten years of experience developing and managing retail properties and plans to carry out value-enhancing investments across the new portfolio with a particular focus on the Buda shopping centre. Wing intends to invest in improving the shopping centre’s existing strengths for both shoppers and tenants.

Developer activity remains strong despite high retail space saturation in many Polish cities. Magdalena Sadal, Head of Retail Research & Advisory at Cresa Poland, talks about retail space saturation and the purchasing potential in Poland’s largest agglomerations.

Retail is changing rapidly with e-commerce having already brought on the death of several shopping centres overseas. Europe is not exempt from this phenomenon, even though the market in general strongly differs from that of the U. S. An interview with Savino Natalicchio MRICS, Director of the Retail Business Unit at Duff & Phelps Real Estate Advisory Group’s Advisory and Valuation Department in Milan, who talked about the future of retail and changing shopping centre valuation practices.

Aerium, a European real estate fund manager has disposed of three shopping centres in Poland to Newbridge, a Warsaw-based investment & development firm. The portfolio includes CH Czyzyny and CH Bielawy, both opened in 2002 in the cities of Krakow and Torun, respectively, and CH Guliwer, which has been operating in Lodz since 1997. The assets comprise over 72,000 sqm of gross lettable space and are anchored by Carrefour on a long-term lease.

2017 was a record breaking year for the Bulgarian office market with almost 200,000 sqm take-up in Sofia. The investment volume has also been the strongest ever with €1 billion invested in commercial property (land acquisitions included) from which income generating assets hold €870 million. Cushman & Wakefield Forton summarised 2017 on the Bulgarian office, retail and industrial markets.

2017 was a year of dynamic growth on Romania’s real estate market and the stage is set for 2018 to bring just as strong results. Silviu Pop, Head of Research at Colliers International Romania put together 10 predictions for the Romanian market in 2018.