Nearly all market indicators point to positive developments on the Serbian market with further growth expected in all segments. Mia Zečević, the CEO of Serbia’s Novaston Real Estate Platform talked to Property Forum about the company’s development plans and shared her insight on the current trends shaping real estate markets in the Balkans region.

Delta Holding has laid the foundation stone for the Delta Planet Niš shopping centre, which will spread over 40,000 sqm on two floors.  Completion is scheduled for spring 2021.

Bulgaria-based insurance company DZI, part of Belgium's KBC Group, has acquired Mall Varna, an office building located in Varna, Bulgaria. The seller was Hidrostroy, a local company. The transaction price has not been disclosed.

PPHE Hotel Group announced its plans to develop a new city centre hotel in Zagreb, Croatia, through its subsidiary Arena Hospitality Group d.d.

The Park Center shopping centre in Sofia, managed by Ceres Management Services, is now fully leased. On the last business day of 2019, the lease agreement for the last remaining vacant space in the mall (60 sqm on floor 2) was signed, which will be transformed into a new dining concept.

Developer and operator SES Spar European Shopping Centers has announced that the customer opening of Slovenia’s most modern shopping centre, located in the northern district of Šiška in Ljubljana, is scheduled to take place on 19 March 2020.

NAI Global has opened a new office in Serbia with NAI WMG, which is led by NAI Business Director Nikola Senesi, PhD, FRICS. NAI WMG provides commercial real estate services in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania.

Britain’s Poseidon Group and Belgium’s Mitiska REIM has sold Capitol Park Rakovica, the largest retail park in Belgrade, to Israel’s BIG CEE Group. The transaction closed in December 2019. CMS Belgrade advised the sellers.

Graz-based Supernova Group is continuing its expansion in Slovenia by buying ten shopping centres of Centrice Real Estate GmbH (a company of the American Lone Star fund). The latter had taken over the properties in 2016 from the Austrian company, Heta, the liquidation company of Hypo Alpe Adria within the framework of a major overall transaction. This Qlandia package was the centrepiece of the portfolio and incorporates market-leading shopping centres in several Slovenian regions.

Southeast Europe‘s real estate market is growing but most markets in the region have trouble attracting foreign investors. To make real estate investments in SEE more attractive, it is necessary to reduce investor risk by implementing legal, tax and public administration reforms and reducing corruption, according to the panellists at Balkans Property Forum 2019, which was organized for the third time in Belgrade by Property Forum and RICS. The conference was visited by nearly 200 real estate professionals from Serbia and other countries in the Balkans region.