The EECFA 2022 Winter Construction Forecast Report has been released and yet another downward revision characterizes the forecast for both Southeast Europe and Eastern Europe. Southeast Europe could see shrinkage on the horizon. This, however, comes after a great period of construction between 2016 and 2021, so the market is foreseen to come down from a peak level. In this respect, the 3% decline until 2024 is no drama, in EECFA’s view. The drama is in East Europe where the peak was reached in 2018 and the market was around 10% below that peak level even before the Ukraine war began. Since then, EECFA has paused issuing forecasts in Ukraine and a status report has been prepared. Without Ukraine, the region is expected to reach its bottom in 2023.

For a long time, the logistics and industrial market in Croatia has been overlooked by real estate developers, despite the country’s strategic geographical position, proximity to major European markets and developed, high-quality road network, as well as direct access to sea routes. Recent project completions and commencements, with a strong pipeline and the arrival of international developers, suggest that winds are changing, and Croatia could become a very attractive logistics market.

GTC announced that Ziv Gigi has been promoted to Executive Director for the Southeast Europe region. In his new role, he will be responsible for all operations of the office sector in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Croatia. He will be in charge of executing the company's strategy and development plan, as well as all of its operational activities, including leasing and asset management. Ziv Gigi’s promotion is part of the company’s greater transformation to strengthen its country leadership to be more responsive to opportunities and challenges in local markets.

Serbia’s real estate market experienced record demand for office, logistics and residential space this year and this growth trend will continue in 2023. Banks will be somewhat stricter in terms of granting loans and financing conditions will tighten but the overall outlook is still positive, according to the speakers of the investment and financing panel of Balkans Property Forum 2022, organised last week in Belgrade.

GTC Group, present in Serbia for the past 20 years, has opened its newest office building in Belgrade. GTC X brings to the market 17,700 sqm of first-class office space in Block 41, located along Milutin Milanković Boulevard in New Belgrade. 

Immofinanz leads the development of retail parks across Croatia, with plans for surpassing Supernova and becoming the market leader in Croatia, while local developers remain active as well, focusing on undersupplied locations and the outskirts of large cities.

Homes buyers in Romania are increasingly asking for the 15-minute city, while prices of apartments will fall only in specific cases, concluded speakers of the residential market panel during SEE Property Forum 2022, which took place in Bucharest.

Almost ten years after becoming the 28th EU member state, Croatia is set to join both the Eurozone and Schengen Area at the beginning of 2023, integrating the country even deeper into the EU. But how will this affect the local real estate market?

Bulgaria’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) aims to facilitate economic and social recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and to create a more sustainable, equitable, and successful economy. It includes a set of schemes not only to restore the economy's growth potential but to boost it, too. In achieving this, several construction projects to increase energy efficiency and decrease CO2 impact are to be implemented in 2023-2026, says Anita Dangova at EPI, EECFA’s Bulgarian research institute.

Panellists were unanimous at the discussion on investments in SEE countries at CEE Property Forum 2022 in Vienna. They agreed that the lack of investment products is the biggest hurdle in the CRE market in that region while developers and banks should rethink their long-term strategies as economic pressure mounts every day.