Cushman & Wakefield has released a summary of retail market conditions in Poland. At the end of Q2 2023, there was close to 500,000 sqm of retail space under construction, seven international brands debuted on the Polish market in the three months to June while the expansion of retail parks continued apace. On the other hand, both retail tenants and landlords continued to face high inflation which impacted their real turnover levels.

Austrian company XXXLutz plans to build a new store in the north of the Slovak capital near the new Bory Hospital, writes HNonline.sk.

Four new retail projects with a combined leasable area of 30,000 sqm have been delivered in four smaller Romanian cities in the first half of 2023. Giurgiu, Călărași, Dej and Vaslui are the cities which benefited from these new investments, while the new supply will be significantly more substantial in the second half of the year, when almost 260,000 sqm of retail spaces are due to be completed, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

The retail sector has been leading the investment activity in the first half of 2023 across CEE, having a share of 35% of the total volume of transactions that reached around €2.02 billion, according to a Colliers report.

The retail industry attracted 21% of the total investment volume recorded in the first half of 2023, which was 7% higher than the same period last year, according to data from CBRE. At the same time, the segment accounted for around €39 million of new investments. 

Affan Yildirim, General Manager, Board Member of Anchor Grup and Board Member of Shopping MallDova, spoke with Property Forum about the company’s experience on the local market for the last 25 years and the new investments planned in Bucharest in the next period, with the aim of transforming the local real estate industry.

District regenerations and mixed-use developments require a complex approach even from the most experienced developers. Property Forum asked David M Johnston, Senior Director and Head of Advisory and Transaction Services at CBRE Hungary about the risks of such projects and he also shared some best practices from across the CEE region.

Retailers and landlords have to be aware that they’re always part of a local community, says Dr. Angelus Bernreuther, Head of Investor Relationship Management at Kaufland. He talked to Property Forum about his outlook for the retail market in CEE and also shared details of the company’s ESG strategy and expansion plans.

The current results of the Polish investment market may not appear very optimistic at the moment, but this is only a temporary situation. The Polish real estate market has a solid foundation, and investors have proven to be highly adaptable, as evidenced by the results achieved in previous challenging years, reveals Avison Young's investment market summary for H1 2023, prepared by Research and Data Manager Paulina Brzeszkiewicz-Kuczyńska.

Rüdiger Dany, CEO of NEPI Rockcastle, spoke with Property Forum about the strong recovery of retail markets in CEE after the pandemic, the development pipeline of retail and residential projects in Romania, and the group’s investments in ESG that are already translating into lower carbon emissions.