Commercial property investment activity exceeded €8 billion across Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania in the first three quarters of 2019, 54% above the five year average, according to Savills latest research report. Investment turnover in CEE has been rising steadily since 2013, by 24% per annum on average, reflecting increasing investor confidence in the region, underpinned by above EU average economic expansion, falling unemployment and growing consumerism.

MVGM closed the acquisition in Germany, Slovakia and Romania as part of its deal to acquire JLL’s European property management business and the alliance partnership in 10 European countries.

AFI Europe Romania intends to build 300 apartments on its 4.3-hectare land plot adjacent to the AFI Park office building and the AFI Cotroceni shopping centre, economica.net reported.

Israeli company Shikun & Binui has signed an exclusive letter of intent to acquire the 76,000 sqm Hermes Business Campus office complex in Northern Bucharest from Belgian developer Atenor, according to profit.ro.

The UK is Romania’s fourth biggest service export destination, after Germany, Italy and France, with around 8% of total, though it also generates nearly 12% of the IT service exports, underscoring the deep ties to the office market in Bucharest and other parts of the country. In case of a hard Brexit, just a modest 10% decrease in trade flows with the UK would shave around 0.1% of Romania’s GDP and bring potential pressures on good office buildings, as among companies tied to the UK economy are blue-chip tenants, according to data from Colliers International Romania.

Romanian real estate developer One United Properties has obtained the building permit for the One Verdi Park mixed-use project that will include office and residential units.

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) awarded United Business Center 5 (UBC 5), a Class A office building and part of the office component of Palas Iași mixed-use project, the LEED Gold certification in line with the LEED 2009 international standard for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance.

In one of the largest industrial & logistic land transactions to date in 2019, Afin Holding acquired Aries Logistic Park in Turda, located near Cluj-Napoca for an undisclosed amount. The project, only partially developed, includes almost 60 hectares of land available for further development. Colliers International was the real estate agent on this transaction whilst Moroianu & Associatii acted as legal advisor to the buyer side.

Corporate Finance House Group, a Middle Eastern investor, has acquired the holding structure owning Day Tower office building in Bucharest, developed by Dimitris Mourkakos of Day Group and completed at the end of 2018. The investor was advised by Savills on its first investment in the country, while the developer was assisted by Crosspoint Real Estate.

In Q3 2019, 66,000 sqm of new modern office buildings were handed over in Bucharest and there are big chances to break the 300,000 sqm threshold by the end of the year, according to Colliers International. The higher vacancy and infrastructure discrepancies will likely support a more thorough segmentation of the market, with the gap between well-located buildings and those at the opposite spectrum likely to increase over the medium term.