ARTICLES LABELLED WITH TAG Erste

Skanska has divested the first phase of its office complex H2Offices in Budapest, Hungary, to Erste Open-Ended Real Estate Investment Fund, represented by Erste Alapkezelő Zrt., for approximately €100 million. The transfer of the property is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023.

As it was unofficially confirmed last month, Sekyra Group has agreed with Dostupné bydlení České spořitelny and the insurance company Kooperativa on the sale of the Opatov II residential project in Prague 11. This is one of the largest build-to-rent (BTR) transactions in the Czech Republic, Sekyra Group announced. The price of the transaction was not disclosed. 

Česká spořitelna has started to build affordable apartments with low rents for employees that cities lack. The first such apartment buildings with 254 flats are already taking shape in Prague 9, built by a subsidiary of the bank DBČS with the developer Finep for CZK 1 billion (€42.7 million). The bank plans to build a total of 1,000 flats by 2026. The bank also wants to cooperate with the Czech government to finance more flats through EU funds and loans from the European Investment Bank, DBČS subsidiary CEO Marek Blaha told the press.

Advance Tower, located on Budapest’s Váci Road office corridor, has become the latest office building to receive a WELL certification. With the International WELL Building Institute’s (IWBI) recent acknowledgement, two out of the three already WELL-certified office complexes in Hungary were developed by Futureal. Since 2020, Advance Tower has been part of Erste Open-Ended Euro Real Estate Investment Fund’s portfolio.

The fears of a recession are likely to cool down the red-hot real estate market in CEE countries, Erste specialists expect. According to them, this will be influenced mainly by surging inflation, the cost of credit and cooling down of the borrowing, and shrinking of the disposable household income which will also worsen the borrowing appetite in the coming periods. There is a change in the respondent’s behaviour too. Whereas respondents from Poland, Hungary and Croatia are open to buying or building a house, Czechs, Slovaks and Slovenians are less inclined to do so, say Erste experts in their recent special report.

Günther Artner (49) has taken over the management of the Commercial Real Estate business of Erste Group and Erste Bank Oesterreich as of 1 July 2022. Artner thus succeeds Patrick Zehetmayr, who is leaving Erste Group.

After issuing a green bond in 2020, CA Immo signed its second sustainability-linked financing instrument at the end of 2021: a €300 million 3-year revolving credit facility (RCF) with two one-year extension options, whose margin is amongst others tied to the company's sustainability performance.

Property developer Mitiska REIM has opened a new retail park in Baia Mare and inaugurated an extension of another retail project in Mediaș. The development activity was carried out in partnership with Square 7 Properties. 

Futureal has signed a €60 million (approximately HUF 21.5 billion) loan agreement with Erste Bank to finance the construction of the second phase of the Budapest ONE office park, currently under development, which is being developed in parallel with the third phase and will be handed over in the second half of 2022.

Hannes Wimmer, Executive Director, Loan Syndication at Erste Group Bank AG talked to Property Forum about the segments driving the property investment market and the funding focus of banks on sustainable projects. He reveals that compared to Western Europe, the CEE region is lagging a bit when it comes to financing sustainable projects, but big changes can be expected during the next 6 to 12 months.