RICS organised its first annual conference in Bratislava, Slovakia on 5 May. The half-day event focused on the role of international standards in emerging markets and on the Slovakian property market itself.

According to Colliers International's latest market research the Croatian real estate market experienced several significant investments in the retail, office and hotel and hospitality sectors in 2015. While the retail and office segments are experiencing upward pressure on rental prices, the industrial market, despite being the least developed sector, saw increased activity.

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.

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.

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.

More than 100 people attended Portfolio’s first property investment conference in London, co-organised by RICS. Speakers at the CEE Property Investment Briefing included Europe’s biggest investors. The exclusive half-day conference in London focused on CEE markets such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Poland.

European commercial real estate markets saw further yield contraction in Q3 2015 across all property sectors, reflecting growing investor demand and very low bond yields, according to the EMEA Prime Rents and Yields survey from global property advisor CBRE. Across the total of 162 sector/city combinations throughout the EMEA region, 71 saw prime yields moving lower and none saw any increase over the quarter.

The RICS Commercial Property Monitor for Q3 2015 showed that expectations for commercial property markets in Central and Eastern European countries have improved remarkably. Both, the Occupier Sentiment Index and the Investment Sentiment Index stands in positive territory across all sectors and projections for the future also paint a positive picture.

With the economic performance of countries in the region being better than expected, due to the general positive mood an increasing number of investors have been prompted to launch new projects, so much so that on a regional level, the expected expansion of the office market supply will exceed demand. The extent of new supply is expected to slow down the growth of rental fees, in fact, it may lead to their decrease in certain markets over the next three years. The Central European markets with the best performances will probably be Prague and Budapest.