To address climate change-related challenges and help investors and occupiers comply with relevant regulations or government targets, as well as meet their own ESG commitments, CBRE's Southeastern Europe (SEE) office is expanding its services with the launch of a new business line, 'ESG & Sustainability Services'.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is boosting the development of green commercial real estate in the Western Balkans, with a debt package of up to €100 million to be used by BIG CEE for the company’s regional expansion.

The third quarter of the year has slowed down in terms of investment activity in comparison with the previous quarter. Namely, the most sought-after segments have been office schemes and retail parks. Both domestic and foreign investors have been active, with a slightly higher provision of international capital since the beginning of the year, CBRE SEE reports.

Investors' interest in the construction of retail parks in Serbia has not been declining for several years now. Investors are mostly focused on building new facilities in secondary and tertiary locations. As much as 14% of the total offer of retail parks in Serbia is located in the region of central Serbia. The Šumadija region is attracting more and more attention, so the company Peštan announced the opening of a new retail park in 2025 - Arandjelovac Retail Park. 

In a strategic move to strengthen its presence in the Croatian real estate market, ALFI Real Estate Fund (ALFI RE) recently added another gem to its investment portfolio. The acquisition of the Matrix B office building in Zagreb's bustling business district marks a significant milestone for the Fund, propelling its real estate portfolio value to over €100 million.

SEE is still a land of opportunities but things go too slowly. The size of a single country is too small for international institutional investors who prefer to buy large portfolios rather than individual assets. However, sizeable local players were optimistic about the change in foreign investors’ attitudes at the panel devoted to the investment market in this region at CEE Property Forum 2023 in Vienna.

iO Partners, JLL’s preferred partner, has opened a new office in Belgrade, Serbia. From this location, the real estate consultancy will also cover neighboring countries including Croatia, Slovenia and Montenegro. 

Industrial developer CTP has leased around 20,000 sqm at CTPark Belgrade City to Mercata VT, the biggest tobacco and FMCG distributor in Serbia. The company will use the warehouse space as its new distribution centre for the next decade. 

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.

CTP has leased approximately 68,000 sqm of industrial and warehouse space to Mercator, a major Serbian supermarket chain, at CTPark Belgrade City, which will be the largest logistics hub in Serbia when complete.