At CEE Property Forum 2025, one message dominated the discussion on offices: standing still is no longer an option. Chaired by Paweł Nowakowski MRICS, Founder and CEO of PNC, the panel brought together investors, occupiers, lenders and developers to examine how the office sector in CEE is being reshaped by new work patterns, rising expectations from tenants and financiers, and growing pressure to reinvest in quality, experience and efficiency. The conversation focused less on whether offices still matter—and more on which ones will continue to matter in the years ahead.

A new CBRE survey reveals a persistent gap between employer expectations and employee office attendance across Europe. While 54% of companies require office presence at least 3 days per week, only 42% actually achieve this target. The survey included 117 European companies, including firms operating in the Czech Republic.

Nearly 40% of office occupiers are mandating a hybrid work model, requiring employees to be in the office 2-3 days per week, according to a new report from Cushman & Wakefield.

The coworking market in Romania has over 100 projects in operation across Bucharest and regional cities, and the demand for flexible spaces is expected to grow over the continuation of the hybrid work arrangements.

IWG, the provider of hybrid work spaces, aims to reach 25 centres in Hungary by the end of this year.

More companies will increasingly shift their focus towards enhancing the productivity and happiness of their people, rather than focusing on where they work from, shows an analysis of IWG on the trends that will shape work this year. 

Cătălin Năstăsoiu, Vice President of Marketing Strategy at Genesis Property, spoke with Property Forum about the status of the YUNITY Park development in Bucharest and the outlook for the office market amidst the limited volume of new deliveries coupled with rising rents.

After four years of a pandemic-induced disruption it is now clear that although hybrid working is not the dominant pattern, it is here to stay. New research from Cushman & Wakefield has found that 27% of Polish people combine in-office attendance with home office, whereas that figure for cities with a population of over 500,000 stands at 36%. Meanwhile, employers and property managers keep looking for ways to incentivise employees to come to the office more frequently. Employees working hybrid schedules value the office particularly for well-equipped spaces for focused work and for fostering collaboration and relationship building, reveals the report from Cushman & Wakefield. At the same time, 47% of respondents are against being mandated to work a fixed number of in-office days.

Katarzyna Zawodna-Bijoch, President and CEO of Skanska’s commercial development business unit in CEE has talked to Property Forum about the changing role of offices, skyrocketing energy prices and the incoming supply gap in the Polish office market.

Mindspace, the global provider of flexible boutique office space, has published the results of its global employee survey. The goal of the survey was to illuminate new work patterns and shed light on both current and aspirational employee dynamics. The results gave insights showing how the 9 to 5 job is a dying phenomenon and the hybrid model is here to stay - with employee flexibility being the key determinant in employee satisfaction.