RICS, hand in hand with other global organisations, is constantly working to raise the quality of property valuation and measurement standards. In several countries, RICS valuers are already required to join Valuer Registration, while IPMS for office buildings is being implemented in many different parts of the world. But when will these innovations result in better professional practices in Central and Eastern Europe? Maarten Vermeulen FRICS, Managing Director of RICS EMEA, CIS & Russia talked to us at the Portfolio - RICS Property Valuation 2016 conference in Budapest.

According to a study by JLL called Destination Europe 2015, Prague has been ranked as the 14th most attractive market in EMEA for the expansion of international and luxury retailers. This reflects the strong purchasing power of the Prague and Czech citizens, as well as its massive volume of tourists. According to TripAdvisor’s Top 10 Global City Destinations 2016, the City of Prague ranks in 4th position in the Europe. Prague’s flourishing retail market has been on property investors´ radar over the past few years and the purchase of Palladium, a prime shopping centre in the very heart of Prague, was one of the largest transactions closed on the Czech real estate market last year.         

On 11th April, the Hungarian government announced their proposal for parliament to abolish the standing law regarding Sunday closing for retail units. The proposal has already passed through voting in the Parliament on 12th April, theoretically allowing stores to open from Sunday, 17 April 2016. The decision comes little more than a year after the legislation came into effect in March 2015, and is likely a direct consequence of recent developments having paved the way for a referendum on the widely criticized policy. According to CBRE’s experience this is a highly appreciated change in legislation by the industry. 

IMMOFINANZ AG announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire 25,690,167 ordinary shares that represent ca. 26% of the outstanding share capital and voting rights in CA Immo from O1 Group Limited and Terim Limited. The acquisition is a first step towards a planned full combination of IMMOFINANZ and CA Immo by way of a statutory merger. Prior to the envisaged merger, IMMOFINANZ is planning to demerge or sell its Russian asset portfolio which is characterised by different market dynamics and a higher risk profile.

The Hungarian hotel market is characterised by optimism, which can be observed in both the development and investment markets. Investors in Budapest are planning to begin multiple projects, the capital will soon be see projects with some 600-800 five star and 1000-2000 four or fewer star rooms. Several projects are likely to manifest in the countryside too, where booking and income-profit indicators show a significant increase and provide developers with motivation.

Prologis announced that it has begun development of a 21,000 square metre speculative facility at Prologis Park Budapest-Sziget. This will be the first speculative logistics building in the Hungarian market since 2008. Completion is scheduled for the third quarter of 2016.

According to the CBRE Investment Breakfast Intentions Survey the vast majority of investors expect more than EUR 1 billion of investments in the Hungarian commercial real estate markets in 2016.

It was only a few weeks ago that the third building of the Váci Greens office complex was delivered but the developer is already preparing for the construction of the next phase. Zoltán Borbély, Atenor’s Country Manager and Olivier Ralet, Atenor’s Executive Officer talked to us about the Belgian company’s plans in Hungary and Romania.

HARMAN International and BASF Hungária Kft. has signed lease agreements with Skanska. The Swedish developer’s Nordic Light office building in Budapest now has preliminary lease agreements for 26% of its total leasable area. Colliers represented the tenants in the transactions, while CBRE takes exclusive responsibility for leasing Nordic Light. 

Prologis has announced that it has completed a 30,000 square metre expansion of a distribution facility in Rawa Mazowiecka – located in Central Poland – for Pepco, a leading clothing and houseware retailer. Construction ended three weeks ahead of schedule. Once operational, the facility will serve as Pepco’s Central European distribution hub.