Colliers International was assigned by Werk Property Group to offer property management services for the Vox Technology Park office project in Timisoara. Therefore, the Colliers International team strengthens its leading position on the office property management market, as the managed office portfolio grew by 10% up to 280,000 leasable sqm, out of a total portfolio of 380,000 leasable sqm.

Retail and hotel sectors recorded highest investment volumes in the Croatian commercial property market in 2017. According to information available and Colliers’s estimate, 2017 brought more than €320 million investment in transactions of 22 investment properties. This does not include pending transactions or confidential deals.

London ranked as Europe's most attractive city for businesses and employees for second year running, according to Colliers International's latest European Cities of Influence report, which reviews and ranks cities based on their occupier attractiveness, availability of talent, and quality of life factors alongside economic output and productivity; Paris, Madrid, Moscow and Birmingham making up the rest of the top five.

Colliers International announced the launch of its new Hotels Advisory department in Poland, led by Rafał Rosiejak, who has been appointed as Director.

Although offices still comprise the majority of certified green buildings in Hungary, other types of properties are increasingly being certified, according to Colliers International’s latest green building market report.

With GDP growth outperforming by a significant extent neighbouring CEE countries, 2017 was very good for the real estate market in Romania, especially for office, investment and land segments. According to Colliers International’s new report, the market’s dynamism will be extended through 2018, supported by new demand and trends in the capital and especially in the major regional cities in the country.

In 2017, approximately 360,000 sqm of new retail space was delivered to the Polish market, which is 15% less than in 2016. Most new shopping centres were completed in the eight largest agglomerations (over 66% of completions). Thus, at the end of 2017, the total stock of modern shopping centre space in Poland reached approximately 11.5 million sqm, according to Colliers International.

Colliers International, Automotive Cluster Bulgaria and Pwc conducted a second consecutive survey of the automotive industry in Bulgaria. There are approximately 130 automotive companies in the country, producing components for top international automotive brands. These are predominantly Tier 1, 2 and 3 suppliers and include producers, which service other industries as well.

In 2017 approx. 90% of the total investment volumes in the commercial real estate were recorded in retail and HTL on the Croatian market. Most of the investment and development activity came from the investors already present on the market. Newcomers were mostly focused on distressed/value-add or brownfield opportunities in the HTL sector. Retail and HTL will remain the most active sectors in terms of investment and development volumes in 2018, Colliers projects.

Economic sentiment indicators are still pointing towards further expansion in CEE-6 investment volumes in 2018, over and above 2017’s cycle high of €12.9 billion. The current economic and real estate investment cycle might top out in 2019. Colliers International has published its investment outlook for the CEE-6 real estate markets for 2018.