Speedwell has appointed Răzvan Enache as Country Manager for Romania, as the Belgian-rooted developer expands its local portfolio and extends operations into regional markets. Enache takes over from Yannick van de Parre, who moves into a new regional role within the group, focusing on the company's international expansion priorities, including its activities in Poland, where Speedwell has been active since 2024.

UBM Development Czechia has completed the structural frame of its Rezidence Na Plzeňce residential project in Prague 5, near Smíchov railway station. The building is being constructed on a former brownfield site and is contributing to the gradual transformation of this part of the city. Completion is planned for the second half of 2027.

Czech developer PSN is to reconstruct a historic building on Strossmayerovo náměstí in Prague, converting it into 21 residential units under the name Rezidence Strossmayer. The project will also include two non-residential units on the ground floor. Residents are expected to move in from the fourth quarter of 2029.

Industrial property vacancy rates across Central Europe are diverging, according to an analysis by investment group ARETE. In the Czech Republic, vacancy stands at 5.3%, though Prague and the Central Bohemian region remain tighter at 4.1%. Poland has seen its vacancy rate fall year-on-year from 8.2% to 6.6%, while Slovakia remains near its peak at 7.99%. In the Czech Republic, net demand in the third quarter held steady at around 250,000 sqm compared with the previous quarter, but was 47% lower year-on-year, while developers started only 149,000 sqm of new projects, with total construction volume down 24% annually.

Prime office rents in Bucharest reached €23 per sqm per month in Q3 2026, a 9.5% year-on-year increase, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. That compares with average growth of 5% across Europe and 7.3% in Central and Eastern Europe over the same period. The rise is driven by limited availability of quality space in the most sought-after submarkets, against a backdrop of new supply that is only gradually returning after two years without a single office completion.

Bratislava's office market recorded net take-up of 38,500 sqm in the third quarter of 2026, a 55% quarter-on-quarter increase, according to a report by CBRE Slovakia. Total leasing activity reached 53,800 sqm over the same period, remaining broadly stable compared with the previous quarter. The overall vacancy rate rose by 98 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 14.40%, though it edged down by 7 basis points year-on-year.

Poland’s growing investment market and shifting capital flows are creating new opportunities across real estate, infrastructure and other key sectors. Bartłomiej Kordeczka, Partner and Co-Head of Office at Pinsent Masons, discusses the firm’s decision to enter Poland with a 40-plus-lawyer team, what is attracting international investors and where he expects the strongest transactional opportunities to emerge.

Kinstellar has advised Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Raiffeisen Bank S.A. as lenders on the refinancing of CPI Europe's portfolio of four office buildings in Bucharest. The transaction involved a financing and security package requiring coordinated legal advice across four jurisdictions.

J&T Investiční společnost is preparing a new qualified investor fund, J&T PROPERTY FUND SICAV, with a subscription period planned to open in December 2026. The fund will encompass the acquisition of the Prague Marriott Hotel and adjacent commercial spaces, completed in August through Prime Hotel Assets Fund SICAV, which is managed by J&T Investiční společnost and will be folded into the new structure. J&T Banka provided capital for the acquisition, with Dosfield Group acting as strategic partner.

A total of 3,816 retail construction projects, with a combined estimated investment value of approximately €15.7 billion and a total planned area of around 23 million sqm, have been tracked across Romania over the past 12 months, according to an analysis by IBC Focus based on data from its VICTA construction intelligence platform. The figures cover a wide range of commercial developments, from individual retail units and supermarkets to showrooms, retail galleries and shopping centres, identified across all Romanian counties.