Occupier and investment sentiment remains positive across all Central and Eastern European countries tracked by the RICS Commercial Property Monitor. Results for Q2 2017 show that Hungary and the Czech Republic continue to post the strongest overall results. The vast majority of respondents expect new investors to enter the market with the presence of local and CEE investors predicted to increase across the region in the year ahead.

The first Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Romania is to be opened by end-2017 in Bucharest. The 201-room hotel will be located within an historic listed building in the city centre. Hilton Garden Inn Bucharest Old Town will be administered by hotel management company Apex Alliance Hotel Management.

Bog’Art has been selected to build the new Bucharest headquarters of Renault, according to zf.ro. The new office building, to be named Renault Connected Bucharest, will comprise 47,000 sqm of office space.

Colliers International was assigned by Piraeus Bank to offer property management services for the office project The Landmark, in the central area of Bucharest. With this new project, the Colliers International team strengthens its position on the office property management market, and the whole managed portfolio reaches a total of over 320,000 leasable sqm.

P3 has promoted Sînziana Pardhan to the role of Country Head in Romania. Pardhan, who was recently appointed as Acquisitions Director for Romania, takes over from Blake Horsley, who has become P3’s Group Development Director. 

The first half of 2017 saw the Czech Republic overtake Poland as the most popular investment destination within CEE. Based on the current pipeline of deals Poland might retake its position rather soon, nevertheless, the combination of growth, yields and stability make Czech Republic and other countries in the CEE region highly attractive to international and domestic investors. Luke Dawson, Managing Director & Head of Capital Markets CEE at Colliers International shared his expectations with Property Forum.

The hotel market in Romania could become more diverse throughout the next year as a result of new brands entering the market by means of leasing or partnership contracts with real estate developers as an alternative to the management or franchise contracts. Such a business model will lead to the relaunch of the hotel market and will offer, at the same time, the possibility for real estate developers to diversify their portfolio, according to Colliers International. 

Israeli-held Elbit Imaging announced that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent with an international investment fund to sell its entire shareholding in a company owning the Radisson Complex in Bucharest, based on a property value of approximately €177.5 million.

Real estate activity during the first half of 2017 was very dynamic in Bucharest as well as throughout Romania. New deliveries, extensions and transactions have led to considerable growth in the main sectors – industrial, retail, office and investment. According to Colliers International, the upward trend will continue for the remainder of the year and will be doubled by new demands.

AFI Europe Romania published its Q2 and H1 2017 financial results, generating a Net Operating Income (NOI) from its income producing assets in Romania of €12.5 million in Q2 and close to €25 million in H1, representing respectively 10.4% and 11.5% higher results compared to the same periods in 2016.