The most prominent investors of the SEE region shared their projections for the upcoming year at the international investment panel at SEE Property Forum 2019, moderated by Tim Wilkinson, Partner at Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

PropTech Romania (proptech.ro) is Romania’s first platform to bring together real estate players, investors, startups and tech companies, fostering innovation, digital transformation and collaboration. The official launch of PropTech Romania happened during Startup Europe Summit 2019 in Cluj, as a side event, an occasion to also announce the first Real-Estate Hackathon on 12-13 April, in Bucharest. Property Forum is a media partner of the first Real Estate Hackathon in Romania.

Investment market momentum is still firmly positive across Central and Eastern Europe but an increasing share of market players feel that commercial property has become expensive in the countries surveyed by the RICS Commercial Property Monitor. Although the majority of the survey’s contributors believe that the market is in the peak phase of the property cycle, growth is set to continue in the coming year.

Money from East Asia burst on to the CEE scene in 2016-17, mainly via large industrial sector portfolio deals. The industrial sector received the majority of 2018’s flow as well, though diversification via larger single asset deals is beginning to occur. Asian investors appear to need liquidity: looking by CEE-6 destination, Poland presently dominates.

There is a growing global war chest of capital for real estate, with institutional investors looking to increase their real estate allocations and new sources of capital emerging, according to Colliers International’s latest report. Increasing allocations to real estate from global institutions reached at least $840 billion in 2018, adding to the $370 billion in closed-end funds waiting to be deployed to real estate in 2019.

Real estate transaction volumes in 2018 were the strongest on record reaching US$1.75 trillion; a 4% year-on-year (y/y) growth and surpassing previous highs of US$1.68 trillion in 2017, according to new data from global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

The local real estate market has begun to attract the attention of major Asian investors, as groups from China and South Korea are exploring the potential to invest directly in the primary commercial markets. It is feasible that the first transaction could occur by the end of this year, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox consultants.

According to Antony Slumbers, one of the keynote speakers of Budapest PropTech Forum 2019, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) is probably larger than that of electricity or the steam engine. In the world of real estate, AI can make the design, construction, management, lease and sale of buildings much more efficient.

Hong Kong will retain its title as the world’s most expensive office market despite rents being forecast to decrease in 2019, according to Knight Frank’s latest Global Outlook Report. Knight Frank's chief economist believes that there is a compelling global case for continued rental growth across the global cities.

Amsterdam will be the epicentre of facility management in Europe for three days. From 20 to 22 March, the Dutch capital city will set the stage for World Workplace Europe meets Facility for Future. The event is owned by IFMA, the International Facility Management Association and FMN, the Dutch professional association for the facility sector. It is the perfect opportunity for European Facility Managers to network internationally and to fully immerse themselves in the most important trends shaping Facility Management today and tomorrow.