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.

Atrium European Real Estate Limited, an owner and manager of shopping centres and retail real estate in Central and Eastern Europe, has announced its results for the second quarter and six months ended 30 June 2016.

Investment into Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (excluding Russia) for H1 2016 registered a substantial increase (59%) compared to same period of last year, surpassing €5 billion. Expectations are that for the entire year, investment volumes will reach and exceed the record volumes of 2015 with all CEE countries expected to perform strongly, says CBRE.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, robust commercial real estate investment activity in the core Central European markets of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania continued in the second quarter of 2016 and reached EUR 2.6 billion, a 56% increase on Q1. This has pushed volumes over the last twelve months to EUR 9.3 billion, close to 2007 record levels.

Cushman & Wakefield has published its new CE industrial map to give a comprehensive overview of the most important logistics and industrial sites in Central Europe, Russia and Germany. In addition, this year’s edition has been expanded with figures for Italy’s Milan.

Award-winning UK architecture practice Make Architects has been appointed to design a state-of-the-art office building in Bratislava’s Central Business District. HB Reavis has been chosen as the development manager of the new mixed-use scheme which will be developed on the site of the current Apollo Business Centre I.

Central European commercial property markets are expected to attract even more investors than last year and the competition among countries is fiercer than ever. What does it take to change lost lasting perceptions and secure interest from international buyers? Andy Thompson MRICS, Director of Investment Services at Colliers International talked to us in Bratislava about recent developments on the Czech and Slovakian markets.

HB Reavis Group and HB Reavis CE REIF fund have jointly sold for €79 million a 132,000 sqm portfolio of logistics centres in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, part of the Macquarie Group, one of the largest global investment banking and diversified financial services groups in the world. The fully-occupied portfolio consists of 2 assets owned by HB Reavis Group and 2 assets held by HBR CE REIF.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, strong investment activity in the core Central European markets of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania continued in the first quarter of 2016, with EUR 1.4 billion invested. The slight decrease in transaction volume of 5% compared to the corresponding period of 2015 was smaller than the 14% fall recorded for Europe overall. Q1 activity was also above the long-run average of EUR 1.2 billion since 2007.

RICS organised its first annual conference in Bratislava, Slovakia on 5 May. The half-day event focused on the role of international standards in emerging markets and on the Slovakian property market itself.