According to CBRE’s ‘CEE Market Outlook’ 2016 is set to be a solid year on the back of an exceptional 2015 which saw records broken in almost every real estate sector. Growth will be a key theme in the region in 2016 as economic recovery happens at a quicker pace than in Western European countries.

South African Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Redefine Properties is significantly broadening its offshore footprint via an initial 75% investment into Echo Investment’s 1.2 billion euro commercial platform comprising 18 properties in Poland.

Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated announced that it is separating the roles of President and Chief Executive Officer and that Christian Ulbrich, currently CEO for the EMEA region, will become President of JLL. Colin Dyer will retain the role of CEO and continue to guide the firm’s global strategy, with a particular emphasis on IT and data strategies, and oversee LaSalle Investment Management as well as the firm’s finance, human resources, legal and marketing functions. Additionally, Guy Grainger, currently UK Chief Executive, will succeed Ulbrich as EMEA CEO, and Chris Ireland will become UK Chief Executive. All changes are effective June 1, 2016.

According to the RICS Commercial Property Monitor for Q4 2015 most countries in Central and Eastern Europe can expect relatively strong economic growth and remarkable improvements in their commercial property markets. Both, the Occupier Sentiment Index (OSI) and the Investment Sentiment Index (ISI) registered a positive value across all sectors in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania.

In 2015 Skanska Commercial Development Europe signed final sale agreements for eleven office buildings located in three Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, achieving a total transaction volume of nearly 500 mln EUR for the year. Skanska is now compiling its sales portfolio for 2016 and continues to purchase land for new development projects.

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.