Modern technology has revolutionised the way we work and significantly altered the leasing process. Andrej Leontiev LL.M., Partner at Taylor Wessing analysed current trends on Bratislava’s office market from a legal perspective.

Business services companies remain core office tenants in Wrocław, setting new market trends and trying to attract top talent. Michał Grabikowski, Head of the Wrocław Office of Cresa Poland summarised the key strengths of Lower Silesia’s capital city.

Microsoft has launched a tender to consolidate its Bucharest offices in a new location. The company is looking for 20,000 sqm of modern office space and is willing to pay around €3 million a year for rent, zf.ro reports citing market sources.

Cresa, a tenant-only commercial real estate firm, has opened its second Polish office in the city of Wrocław. The new office is headed by Michał Grabikowski, who is also the Head of Tenant Representation, Office Department of Cresa Poland in Wrocław.

In line with the current accounting standards, commercial real estate leases and operating leases do not have be treated as long-term liabilities. They are very often held off-balance sheet or only partially disclosed as short-term liabilities. As a result, businesses, including the largest listed companies reporting in accord-ance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), are required solely to include upcoming operating lease instalments and rental payments in their balance sheets. This, however, will change as of 1 January 2019. Bolesław Kołodziejczyk, PhD, Head of Research & Advisory at Cresa Poland analysed the impacts of IFRS 16.

Tenants in 2017 are looking for a lot more than four walls and a couple of cubicles. Developers and the owners of older schemes will need to adapt to the changing needs of occupiers in order to stay in the race. Our panel of tenants, landlords, developers and advisors at CEE Property Forum 2017 talked about what makes an office attractive in 2017 and what it will take to secure new leases and keep existing tenants happy in the years to come.

Up to 210,000 sqm of modern office space was leased in H1 2017 by companies from the business services sector - this accounts for 60% of overall demand for office space outside Warsaw. According to forecasts by ABSL, employment in business service centres in Poland will continue to grow. By 2020, the sector will likely employ approximately 300,000 specialists, further fuelling office take-up. As a consequence, smaller cities will be even more competitive to attract investors. JLL has conducted an analysis of the activity of tenants from the business services sector outside Warsaw in H1 2017.

In H1 2017, the Wrocław office market recorded demand totalling nearly 92,000 sqm, mostly as a consequence of the high level of activity among tenants from the business services sector. JLL summarised the first half of 2017 on Wrocław's office market.

Cresa, a tenant-only real estate advisor, will open an office in Warsaw this autumn. Piotr Kaszyński, who has 20 years’ experience in the real estate sector, will lead the Polish office.

SAP Slovakia, is renting over 3,000 sqm of office space within the Twin City office complex in Bratislava. SAP also included in its new lease contract approximately 120 underground parking spaces. The branch moved from the BBC V office building after having its seat there for the past 10 years.