Appeninn Nyrt refinanced its Biatorbágy property under significantly more favorable conditions than before. The 5000 sqm property is occupied by the Hungarian subsidiary of Remmers. Appeninn intends to spend the released resources on further property investments and the distribution of dividends.

Immofinanz is continuing the expansion of its successful Stop Shop retail park portfolio with the acquisition of eight locations in Slovakia and Hungary. The purchase price for these properties totals approx. €79.0 million. The newly acquired retail parks have an occupancy rate of roughly 98% and generate annual rental income of approx. €6.6 million. The transactions will close in several steps, presumably by the end of the first quarter of 2017. Immofinanz‘s Stop Shop portfolio will then cover 66 locations in seven countries with roughly 449,000 sqm of rentable space and a book value of more than EUR 600.0 million. Further locations in Serbia and Poland are currently in the preparation phase for project development. 

General optimism, attractive investment opportunities and more capital characterises the Central and Eastern European property market that is now considered a favourable investment destination by international investors. The second Emerging Europe Property Forum, co-organised by Portfolio Property Forum and RICS, took place on 8 November at the RICS HQ in London. 

Penta Investments has sold its Florentinum office building, the company’s first development completed in the Czech Republic, to Chinese investment group CEFC. Florentinum, a LEED Platinum certified property opened in 2014 and is home to 70 long-term tenants, many of them blue chip companies such as EY, HSBC Bank, Bank of China, Havel Holásek & Partners Law Firm and RSJ Investment Group. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed. 

In order to be sustainable and environmental friendly, CTP targeted a 5 % energy consumption reduction within the CTPark portfolio in 2016. A total area of 250 000 sqm will be retrofitted until the end of the year. 

Large leases and the rebranding of City Center Sofia marked the Bulgarian retail property market in the third quarter. The demand for prime space remained strong fuelled by the increasing consumption in the main cities, while the supply didn’t change. Fashion and shoes, as well as health & beauty were the most rapidly growing categories in terms of new stores. The FMCG sector was driven mainly by the appetite of the fast growing retailers to occupy the niche vacated with the exit of Carrefour and Penny Market, as well as the reorganisation of Piccadilly. Forton has published its Bulgaria retail market snapshot for Q3 2016.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, commercial real estate investment activity in the core Central European markets of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania reached €6.05 billion in the first three quarters of 2016, a 37% increase y-o-y, albeit with reduced activity during the third quarter. Investment in the CE region slipped back following a strong second quarter. The volume of assets traded totalled €1.4bn in Q3 2016, down over 20% a year ago and half Q2 volumes.

In the middle of August, the whole world was once again in Olympic fever, as Rio hosted the 31st Summer Olympic Games. The event bears significance for Hungary, beyond the achievements of its athletes, because Budapest is one of the cities which has applied to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

At the end of September 2016 total modern warehouse stock in Poland stood at 10,920,000 sqm. Occupier and developer activity is expected to continue its strong momentum, as revealed by global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield in its latest Polish Industrial Market Q3 2016 report.

CBRE Global Investors has acquired on behalf of its investors, the ‘Hillwood Portfolio’ consisting of four standing logistics parks in Poland totalling 220,608 sqm. The vendor was Hillwood. CBRE Global Investors has also agreed to acquire from Hillwood a pipeline of projects currently under development. These consist of two new parks and two extensions in Poland totalling 134,165 sqm and two new developments in Germany totalling 71,684 sqm.