Emma Toma, Head of the Office Leasing Division at AFI Europe Romania, spoke to Property Forum about the developer’s expansion plans in the residential segment and the trend of rising rents in Class A office buildings.

The amount of property investments in Romania totaled €336 million in the first half of 2022, up around 13% year-on-year, while solid pipeline of transactions is under negotiation and could be completed by the end of the year, according to a report of real estate consultancy CBRE. 

The rise of e-commerce and changing customer preferences have created a new phenomenon: Dark Stores; that is, online retailers delivering goods within 15 minutes of ordering. During the pandemic and the closure of brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce reached its peak. Some e-shops saw their sales grow by several tens of percents last year. In connection with this, demand for smaller, centrally located e-shop locations and warehouses with 150 to 500 sqm of space began to grow, especially in larger cities with sufficiently dense housing.

The Ukrainian retail industry together with the rest of the country is going through one of the most alarming stages in its history. Shopping malls are increasingly becoming targets for enemy fire. It is difficult to estimate the financial losses caused by the Russian army as the situation is constantly changing. According to the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centres (UCSC) the losses incurred by the shopping mall industry as a result of the aggression amount to $9.8 billion. This calculation includes direct and indirect losses, writes Katy Klyueva in an article prepared by the Ukrainian Real Estate Club for Property Forum.

Challenging times are still going on, thus investment market participants are closely following the impact of the turmoil in Europe on the economy and its long‑lasting consequences. In spite of the record-high inflation as well as continuously raised interest rates, the Polish investment market keeps track with 32 investment deals closed in Q2 2022, exceeding €1.2 billion, Avison Young reports.

Classical shopping centres should adapt to the latest trends in retail to survive. That includes establishing strong ties between the digital and physical world and defining the tenant mix more accurately. Entertainment is also a must as these centres will have to become beloved community centres as well, says Márk Balástyai, Project Director of the recently opened Etele Plaza, built by Hungarian developer Futureal.

As many as 15 new brands arrived on the Czech retail market in the first six months of this year. Compared with the first halves of the past few years, this is the highest number since 2018, when multiple newcomers were attracted as a result of an outlet centre opening near Prague’s airport. The number of newly arriving brands in the second half of the year has been traditionally higher than in the first half, mainly as a result of the Christmas season. In effect, the number of newcomers this year can be expected to be similar to last year’s 38.

The most exposed sectors to the inflationary pressures in Romania are the residential, industrial and retail ones, with a lot more resilience found in the office segment, suggest representatives of real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

With total investments exceeding €500 million in Romania’s real estate market in the past 25 years, Anchor Grup is looking for new funding and recently kicked off a new residential project. Affan Yildirim, General Manager, Board Member of Anchor Grup and Board Member of Shopping MallDova, spoke to Property Forum about the way in which the developer adapted its malls and offices to the post-pandemic trends but also about the investment context in the country.

Romania is an attractive market for international retail companies which are interested in leasing large areas, often above 1,500-2,000 sqm, according to a report by real estate consultancy CBRE. Bucharest is the leading city with 66,222 sqm of retail spaces under development, followed byu Craiova, Timișoara and Iași.