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.

Irish fashion retailer Primark opened its first store in Slovenia at Citypark in Ljubljana. The mall was completely renovated around the popular anchor tenant by Citypark operator SES Spar European Shopping Centers, following a refurbishment investment of €20 million.

Slovenia’s newest shopping centre, Aleja, which is being built in the Šiška district of Ljubljana, will open next year. Developer and operator SES Spar European Shopping Centers is investing a total amount of approximately €150 million in the project.

KD Adriatic Value Fund, Special Investment Fund, the first regulated real estate alternative investment fund (AIF) in Slovenia, managed by KD Funds in partnership with Peakside Capital, has finalised the acquisition of the Austria Trend Hotel in Ljubljana. This transaction represents the fourth commercial real estate acquisition in Slovenia by the KD Adriatic Value Fund, with the first acquisition completed in April 2018.

Hungarian bank OTP reportedly plans to purchase the largest real estate project from Gránit Pólus in the Slovenian capital through the acquisition of project development companies, according to local media. The Emonika project, valued at €250 million, would see the construction of 196,000 sqm of office, retail, residential and hotel space.

Danish facility management company ISS plans to divest its operations in thirteen countries worldwide, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania.

Immofinanz is driving the expansion of its Stop Shop retail park brand and has now purchased eight retail parks in Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia. The purchase price totals approximately €90.5 million. The newly acquired properties are fully rented and generate an annual rental income of roughly €7.2 million, which represents a gross return of 8.0%. These transactions increase Immofinanz’s Stop Shop portfolio to 80 locations in nine countries with over 567,000 sqm of rentable space and a carrying amount of approx. €800 million. Further acquisitions are currently under evaluation, and two Stop Shops in Poland and Serbia are now in the active development phase.

Slovenian retailer Mercator has sold 10 shopping centres with a total GLA of 108,800 sqm in Slovenia to Austrian Supernova Group for €116.6 million. Mercator will rent parts of the centres, the company said in a filing to the Ljubljana Stock Exchange.

KD Funds, one of the largest and oldest asset managers in South East Europe and Peakside Capital, an international real estate investor, announced the launch of the KD Adriatic Value Fund, Special Investment Fund, the first regulated real estate alternative investment fund (AIF) in Slovenia.

"The aggregate value of the investment involving several different investors is estimated at €150 million", said Marcus Wild, CEO of SES Spar European Shopping Centers, which will manage and own the newest shopping centre in Slovenia. This will grow in Šiška, the most densely populated district of Ljubljana, by the autumn of 2019. The construction work is already starting in June 2017.