An expanding BPO/SSC sector does not just boost the economy but the construction market as well. Investment funds and real estate agencies point out that in CEE there is still a need for prime offices, shopping centers and logistics infrastructure. Skanska, JLL and Dentons, in cooperation with ABSL have published their latest CEE Investment Report 2016: Mission to Outperform.

The latest Colliers report reveals a stable retail property market in Bulgaria during the first half of 2016. Modern shopping centers in Sofia retained the absorption levels from the previous period – nearly 15,000 sqm of leasable space, compared to 16,370 sqm in the second half of 2015. In well-established projects enjoying active demand, this equals to an average share of 4% from the GLA. 

Vacancy rates reached a record low level on the Budapest office market as a result of modest development activity and strong demand from tenants. The Budapest Research Forum has published its quarterly office market analysis.

Commercial real estate investment remained strong across Europe in Q2 2016 totaling €54.0 billion, up 2.5 per cent on Q1 2016 and 30.4 per cent on the ten year average. Investment into CEE countries for H1 2016 registered a substantial increase (59%) compared to same period of last year, reaching almost €5 billion. Expectations are that for the entire year, investment volumes will reach and exceed the record volumes of 2015, with all CEE countries expected to perform strongly.

Mitiska REIM, an investor specialised in European retail parks, has tannounced the successful second closing of its First Retail International 2 Fund (FRI 2) close to €190 million, significantly exceeding its original target of €120 to 150 million.  Allowing for gearing of 50%, the Fund’s gross investment capability is now close to €400 million.

Renewals dominated the Budapest industrial property market in the second three months of the year where the vacancy rate has increased for the first time in nearly three years. The Budapest Research Forum has published its Q2 2016 industrial market snapshot.  

Panattoni Europe completed the manufacturing site built for Kongsberg Automotive of Norway. The project, sized 6300 sqm, was executed in Koluszki, Central Poland. Formal acceptance of the project by tenant took place on 15 July 2016

Delta Holding, a Serbian real estate investor, has announced that next year it will begin building a shopping mall in Banja Luka, the largest investment in the Republic Srpska region of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

P3 has reached the important milestone of 300,000 sqm of built space at its P3 Bucharest park, the largest logistics park in Romania. Since its purchase of the park at the beginning of 2015, P3 has added a total of 85,000 sqm of new space for existing and new clients.

Rockcastle, a listed retail property company, has acquired Forum Liberec from British retailer Tesco for approx. 80 milionl EUR. Forum Liberec is a regional shopping centre located in the heart of Liberec, the capital of the North Bohemia region. The 47,000 sqm centre is tenanted by strong retailers including: Tesco, Cinema City, C&A, Datart, Gant, H&M, Lindex, New Yorker, Nord Blanc, Norma, ProBest, Reserved, Sportissimo and Tiger.