Arkadiusz Rudzki, Executive Vice President, Leasing & Sales for Skanska’s commercial development business unit in CEE, talked to Property Forum about the duration of the supply gap in the Warsaw office market, the current interests of investment funds and Skanska’s Scandinavian approach to implementing the ESG principles.

Skanska has divested the first phase of its office complex H2Offices in Budapest, Hungary, to Erste Open-Ended Real Estate Investment Fund, represented by Erste Alapkezelő Zrt., for approximately €100 million. The transfer of the property is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023.

The biggest Czech commercial project by Skanska is officially open to both tenants and visitors. Port7 provides 36,000 sqm of prime office and retail spaces. Compared to typical buildings of its size, Port7 boasts over 43% reduction in energy consumption and a 50% decrease in potable water usage.

Skanska has launched the sale of the second phase of Modřanský cukrovar, which will offer 126 apartments in four residential sections. The developer is applying sustainability principles in the construction and the planned construction of the apartment buildings is approaching the passive standard in the highest PENB energy performance category - A. Each apartment will already draw energy from photovoltaic panels on the roof and will be able to use recycled water. The developer expects to start construction this winter with completion expected in 2025.

BNY Mellon, an international company from the banking and finance sector, has leased all office space in the second phase of Skanska’s Centrum Południe complex located in Wrocław. The tenant’s employees will occupy approx. 20,300 sqm of office space. The opening of the new office is scheduled for April 2024. This is the largest lease transaction in Wrocław since 2020.

The average price of older flats in the Czech Republic fell by nine percent year-on-year to CZK 82,351 per sqm (€3,510 per sqm), which brought an overall increase in sales by two-thirds compared to the previous year. However, Prague has seen the fewest sales of older apartments in four years. According to ČTK and HN.cz, this is the result of a study by the real estate group European Housing Services (EHS), which uses data from its founding members, Bezrealitky and Maxima Reality.

The latest data from Q1 2023 show a recovery of the new flats market in Prague. Quarter-on-quarter, sales increased by almost a fifth. The mortgage market, which has also seen a rally in recent months, but also the return of investors, will have an impact on further developments. Neither offer nor sale prices have changed significantly compared to the previous period. This is mainly due to persistently high construction costs, slow permitting of new construction and temporary postponement of some planned projects, according to the market analysis of development companies Trigema, Skanska and Central Group.

The Port7 office project by Skanska has received the occupancy permit. Port7 offers 35,800 sqm of premium office and retail space in three buildings, 50 percent of which are leased now. Skanska is now shifting its focus to finishing the nearly 2-hectare public park and the new riverside, which is expected to become the new centre of Prague Holešovice. For better access to the entire area, the developer has built an extension of the railway underpass which directly connects the project with the subway, train, and tram station of Nádraží Holešovice.

Skanska has opened the 27,000 sqm first phase of the H2Offices complex on Budapest's Váci Road office corridor. Construction of the second phase may start in H2 2023, with the third and final to be handed over in 2026 or 2027.

In Prague 7, Skanska is preparing the first office project in the Czech Republic which is being built on the principle of the circular economy. The Mercury project is being built with materials from demolished buildings and will have 20,000 sqm of premium office and retail space.