As core European markets continue to become increasingly tight, the CEE region is attracting more capital and witnessing high levels of real estate investment activity.

Annual total leasing activity on the Budapest industrial property market equated to 353,220 sq m in 2015, which was just slightly (5.5%) below the 2014 record volume. The vacancy rate declined 5 percentage points during the year, bottoming out at 10.6% at the end of 2015.

Demand for office space in Budapest grew significantly in Q4 2015, while the vacancy rate reached a new record low of 12.1%. Development activity was low in the last quarter of the year, the annual supply in 2015 was 50,885 sq m, 25.4% lower than in 2014.

The Prague Research Forum announced the office market figures for the fourth quarter of 2015. Gross take-up amounted to 161,800 sq m, representing an increase of 78% compared to the previous quarter and the strongest quarterly result ever recorded on Prague office market. Also on a positive note, the vacancy rate decreased by 1.8 percentage points to 14.6% when compared to the previous quarter.

Investment into Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (excluding Russia) for 2015 reached a historic high level at over €9.6 billion, representing a 20% increase year on year. Czech Republic and Poland put in a particularly strong performance, recording investment volumes of EUR 2.7 billion and EUR4 billion respectively.

International investor and developer, CTP, has successfully concluded the purchase of a portfolio of industrial real estate in Hungary. With this acquisition, CTP further increases its footprint in Central Europe, with a TRA exceeding 3,250,000 sqm as of January 2016.

Prologis today announced that Ben Bannatyne has been appointed President of Prologis Europe, succeeding Philip Dunne, who has been in the role for almost seven years.

Which sectors make the most green field investments? Where does the automotive industry prefer factories to be built? What are the risks of such developments? Dr. Zoltán Nádasdy MRICS, head lawyer at Noerr’s Budapest office, answered these questions and more.

Which one is the most attractive capital in the region in terms of property investment and development? When will Budapest enter the phase of yield compression and how quickly are yields expected to drop? Which products spark the imagination of investors? These are some of the questions answered by the participants of the 11th Portfolio Property Investment Forum conference.

Barbora Dermekova MRICS, Valuer at JLL became the first recipient of the Chris Bennett Memorial Prize. The award was handed out at the Portfolio Property Investment Forum conference in Budapest, where the activity of several big players of the Hungarian property market was also acknowledged.