Inflation across Europe is cooling down but interest rates are still at historical highs. Leading bankers and investment experts discussed at last month's CEE Property Forum 2023 in Vienna how their financing strategies were adapting.

Just ahead of the Expo Real investment fair in Munich, experts of Avison Young presented an overview of the current situation in the Polish commercial real estate market. 

Shopper Park Plus Zrt., a regulated real estate investment holding company that owns and operates a portfolio of 18 retail properties, aims to float new ordinary shares and to list its ordinary shares in the BSE Premium category. Retail investors can subscribe for shares from October 9, 2023, with OTP Bank Nyrt. and Concorde Értékpapír Zrt. as distributors. Retail share subscription opens on October 9. 2023. In addition to professional investors, Hungarian retail investors will also be able to participate in the Budapest Stock Exchange’s (BSE) first euro-based initial public offering.

NEPI Rockcastle, the biggest owner of shopping malls in Romania, has donated a boulevard to Craiova municipality. The road was completed following an investment of €10 million and will streamline traffic around the Promenada Craiova retail project, which will open on October 5. 

SES is refurbishing the King Cross shopping centre in Zagreb, Croatia which it has owned and managed since 2018. Construction work to completely refurbish the centre will begin in 2024 following an investment of approximately €40 million. Completion is scheduled for autumn 2025.

Kaufland intends to significantly reduce CO2 emissions in the future in the construction of new stores. Therefore, the retailer is currently testing various alternatives to materials such as concrete and steel at pilot locations. In Bratislava, the company is opening the largest timber store in Slovakia. In Tuttlingen, Baden-Württemberg, a store is being built using recycled building materials including items such as walls, the facade, and the parking lot.

Consolidation of the residential business, maintaining a high rental level in all completed Resi4Rent projects, starting new "destination" projects – this is a summary of the operational activities of Echo Investment Group in the first half of 2023. The Group's development plans are supported by a high cash balance of over PLN 662 million. 

According to the latest data from Cushman & Wakefield, the average retail vacancy rate in Poland’s largest cities currently stands at 3.5%, down by 1.2 pp year-on-year. More importantly, falls were recorded in six out of the eight largest cities, with the availability of retail space at the lowest in Kraków, Łódź and Szczecin. This suggests a gradual retail recovery in Poland, says Cushman & Wakefield. Meanwhile, as the market continues to stabilize, retail landlords should increasingly turn their focus onto diversifying their offer.

Trei Real Estate has just presented its mid-year financials for 2023. Despite a difficult market environment for developers, Trei continues its developments of residential real estate in Germany, Poland and the United States as well as of retail real estate in Poland. The development pipeline amounted to a total value of €1.9 billion by 30 June 2022, which represents a drop of c. €100 million since 31 December 2022. The decline is essentially explained by the completion of three retail parks in Poland as well as by the completion and the highly successful sale of the “Atlantic Beach House” residential project in Charleston/South Carolina, whose disposal generated around 35 per cent IRR for Trei. Out of the total development pipeline of €1.9 billion, the residential use class accounts for €1.7 billion while retail developments in Poland account for €200 million.

Popeyes is to open its first Warsaw restaurant in Złote Tarasy on 21 September. The fast food chain from Louisiana is the seventh new tenant to come to Złote Tarasy in 2023 after such brands as LUSH, Candy Pop, and Hugo. Cushman & Wakefield, which is responsible for the re-commercialisation and property management for the scheme, expects to see more international debuts in Złote Tarasy later this year.