CEE investment volumes for the first half of 2020 reached ca. €6.26 billion. This figure was boosted by two large portfolios totalling in excess of €2.2 billion, with Poland and the Czech Republic taking a 78% share of the CEE-6 total. According to Colliers International's latest report, investor appetite remains strong for CEE but a cautious approach is still being applied as markets try to settle. 

The first half of the “pandemic year” closed with a total value of investment transactions worth €408 million in Romania, around 18% above the first semester of 2019, with office assets accounting nearly 86% of volumes, according to Colliers International’s market report. Still, the outlook is uncertain since several large big-ticket items have either been frozen or fell through. On the opposite pole, the local land market continues to see deals closing and significant interest.

When assessing the first quarter of 2020, analysts of EBI Construction Activity Report Q1 2020 already highlighted the impact of the pandemic on the Hungarian construction industry. Back then, they did it with the help of a forecast based on limited available data, but since then actual data have been released and the impact of the pandemic on the sector can be assessed in detail.

The industrial real estate sector remains the least affected commercial real estate sector in Slovakia. In the second quarter, the market recorded solid leasing activity, reaching almost 120,000 sqm of industrial space. Cushman & Wakefield published its Q2 2020 snapshots for Slovakia’s office, retail and industrial sector.

Globalworth intends to launch a €1.5 billion issue under its Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) Program. The notes will be sold on the Dublin Stock Exchange.

Calea Victoriei in Bucharest, the 2.8-kilometer-long artery between Piața Victoriei and Piața Națiunilor Unite, will continue to grow as an office and hotel hub in the upcoming years, with the developers' plans to build seven new office buildings and six hotels as a result of investments that could exceed the €300 million threshold, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

GTC’s rental income suffered a €2 million decrease due to rent and service charge relief imposed by governments during the lockdown of shopping malls. Still, total rental and service charge revenues increased to €41 million in Q1 2020 from €39 million in Q1 2019. GTC presented its financial results at the end of Q1 2020.

JLL and LaSalle have published the latest edition of the Global Real Estate Transparency Index – GRETI. As emphasized by the authors of the report, although there is a greater emphasis on corporate social responsibility and the use of new technologies, we are currently facing the slowest rate of transparency improvement since the period directly following the Global Financial Crisis.

According to Savills, commercial property investment activity hit €2.92 billion across Poland in H1 2020, up by almost 5% on the same period in 2019. Despite COVID-19 challenges, it was the second-best result in the first half of a year on record. Savills anticipates that the pandemic’s impact will be noticeable in H2 2020, but the investment volume is unlikely to fall by more than 20% compared to last year’s all-time high.

The first half of 2020 saw a record high investment activity with €3.5 billion of investment transactions closed on the Polish market. Although this was a 30% higher result compared to the corresponding period of last year, achieving a full-year result similar to the record-breaking €7.8 billion volume of 2019 may be difficult, according to Avison Young.