2016 reached the volume of €11.8bn in investment markets across Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, according to a research report by Colliers International. Aside from Poland, investment flows in 2017 will be close to or higher than 2016’s.  The retail sector might see continued rental growth and high investment levels across the region.

Slovak investor IAD Investments, acting through its fund Prvý realitný fond o.p.f., has purchased Laugaricio Shopping Centre in Trenčín, Slovakia. The original owners were private investors represented by Mint Investments. This sale, the largest property transaction in Slovakia this year, was brokered by Cushman & Wakefield. 

HB Reavis has sold Twin City A, a modern office building located in close proximity to Bratislava city centre in Slovakia, to Prvý realitný fund (PRF), managed by IAD Investments with a transaction yield of 6.5%. The building, located in the Mlynske Nivy business district of Bratislava, was completed in 2015 and offers approximately 16,500 sqm of leasable space, which is fully let to a number of tenants, including PWC, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Bayer, BNP Paribas Slovensko and Sfera.

Austrian and Romanian real estate developer Invest4SEE has announced the development of a 91,216 sqm warehouse in Dubnica nad Vahom, Slovakia. Invest4SEE Industrial Park Dubnica will spread over 20 hectares.

Immofinanz is continuing the expansion of its successful Stop Shop retail park portfolio with the acquisition of eight locations in Slovakia and Hungary. The purchase price for these properties totals approx. €79.0 million. The newly acquired retail parks have an occupancy rate of roughly 98% and generate annual rental income of approx. €6.6 million. The transactions will close in several steps, presumably by the end of the first quarter of 2017. Immofinanz‘s Stop Shop portfolio will then cover 66 locations in seven countries with roughly 449,000 sqm of rentable space and a book value of more than EUR 600.0 million. Further locations in Serbia and Poland are currently in the preparation phase for project development. 

According to Cushman & Wakefield, commercial real estate investment activity in the core Central European markets of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania reached €6.05 billion in the first three quarters of 2016, a 37% increase y-o-y, albeit with reduced activity during the third quarter. Investment in the CE region slipped back following a strong second quarter. The volume of assets traded totalled €1.4bn in Q3 2016, down over 20% a year ago and half Q2 volumes.

International real estate developer HB Reavis has appointed Peter Ceresnik as Group Leasing Director. In his new role Peter will lead the company’s five leasing teams, as well as its marketing and IT divisions.

HB Reavis’ Central Europe Real Estate Fund (CEREIF) has sold its retail asset, Aupark Piestany in Slovakia, to New Europe Property Investments (NEPI) for €39.5 million. The shopping centre, totalling 10,000 sqm of GLA and 380 parking spaces, is home to brands such as CCC Shoes, Mango, Orsay and 

Prologis has announced that it will begin construction of a 21,140 sqm speculative facility at Prologis Park Bratislava to meet high demand from customers throughout the region. The building, DC15, will be situated on a 22.6-hectare plot of land that was acquired by Prologis in the second quarter of 2016. The plot has a build-out potential of an additional 66,000 square metres. DC15, like all newly built Prologis facilities, will be submitted for BREEAM accreditation.  

In the last quarter alone South African investors have spent €1 billion in CEE and it is most likely that they won’t stop chasing higher yields anytime soon. Even though investments in Central and Eastern Europe are generally considered risky by European standards, coming from other parts of the world opportunities in the region may seem rather safe. We report from CEE Property Forum 2016, co-organised by Portfolio Property Forum and RICS, where over 300 visitors and 70 speakers came together to discuss the most pressing issues concerning regional investment markets.