All segments of the Hungarian commercial property market have shown signs of strong growth over the last couple of years. Developers embark on a record number of new projects, but most of them soon realise that construction will take more time and be a lot more costly than they initially anticipated. The latest Tea & Talk session, organised by RICS Hungary in Budapest, helped us understand how rising construction costs and labour shortage in construction can be tackled.

This spring the Iulius Company will start the construction works for three new Class A office buildings within the Openville Timişoara mixed-use project, located in the vicinity of Iulius Mall. The three buildings to be developed under the United Business Center (UBC) brand add up to a total area of 73,000 sqm and shall be ready to use within a 12 to 18 months’ term.

Cushman & Wakefield has been selected to act as property manager for the Grójecka Offices building currently under construction in Warsaw’s Ochota district. The new office building located at 206 Grójecka street will comprise 7 400 sqm of Class A office space and it will be completed in Q2 2017.

Skanska Property Czech Republic is expanding its portfolio by completing the acquisition of a plot with a former car repair shop from M2 Real Estate Group, located in the Karlín area of Prague. Skanska plans to build a modern office building called Praga Studios on the property.

IT Services Hungary, the largest ICT employer of Hungary has decided to move its Budapest site to Skanska’s Mill Park, from Q2 2018 and will occupy approx. 17,300 sqm in the second phase of the complex. In the leasing process, ITSH was advised by Colliers International.

Office tenants can look forward to a new supply of administrative space that is going to be delivered to the Prague market in 2017 and 2018. Last´s year paradox, when the economy was booming and the market registered a robust demand for new office space, but the amount of new completions dropped to a historical low, is forecast to be cleared out in the months to come. Currently, there are 330 000 sqm of new offices under construction in Prague out of which approximately half (171 000 sqm) is expected to be delivered this year. JLL looked at the largest office submarkets of the Czech capital in detail.

Futureal Group handed over the Skypark office building as the latest member of the Corvin Promenade. The 25,000 sqm business center boasts the latest technology since it is planned to meet the needs of technology and R&D. 

In 2016, total office stock in Poland’s eight key regional cities (Krakow, Wrocław, Tricity, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Szczecin and Lublin) rose to nearly 4 million sqm. Krakow, Wrocław and Tricity remain the largest regional office hubs. Office take-up hit nearly 590,000 sqm, which represented a 50% rise on the average for the years 2011–2015. Cushman & Wakefield presented an overview of the Polish regional office market for 2016 in its latest report.

Savills has been appointed by Echo Investment to manage an 16,000 sqm office building, Nobilis Business House in Wrocław. The company has also been appointed to manage the 16-storey, mixed-use Wratislavia Tower on behalf of Cinema Tower Sp. z o.o. The 20,000 sqm property officially joined Savills portfolio in December 2016.

In 2016, office supply in Warsaw rose by 65% on the annual average for the period 2011–2015. The largest number of new office buildings was delivered in the City Core and the Fringe. Take-up came predominantly from the business services sector. Cushman & Wakefield presented an overview of the Warsaw office market in 2016 in its latest report.