Occupier and investment sentiment continues to be positive across Central and Eastern Europe according to the RICS Commercial Property Monitor for Q1 2017. Similarly to last quarter, Hungary remains the most upbeat market globally with the Czech Republic also performing remarkably well. The picture is slightly more mixed in Croatia and Romania, still, near term momentum remains positive in the two markets.

M7 Real Estate has acquired a portfolio of 11 light industrial assets in Hungary and the Czech Republic, on behalf of M7 CEREF I, from a joint venture between Partners Group and Cromwell Property Group. The portfolio comprises 209,832 sqm, with seven of the assets located in Hungary and the remaining four in the Czech Republic.

LaSalle Investment Management has acquired the River Garden I office complex in Prague’s Karlín business district on behalf of its LaVA mandate for approximately €57 million. The seller is Slovak asset management company IAD Investments on behalf of Prvý realitný fond.

In February, Warimpex announced the sale of a portfolio of eight hotels to the Thai investor U City. On 31 May, the transaction was successfully closed. Warimpex has taken advantage of this positive momentum on the CEE hotel investment market with this portfolio deal and is set to strengthen its capital structure and to position itself for new development projects.

Echo Polska Properties (EPP) and Echo Investment have finalised the purchase of shares in the Galeria Młociny shopping centre in Warsaw, which is under construction. EPP is its majority shareholder (70%) and it will manage the completed asset whereas Echo Investment holds the remaining 30%, it is to finish the construction process and will be responsible for the commercialisation and marketing of the project.

Real estate funds managed by Blackstone have agreed to sell their pan European logistics company, Logicor, to affiliates of China Investment Corporation (CIC) for €12.25 billion.  Logicor owns and operates a portfolio of high-quality logistics assets totalling 147 million square feet, in 17 countries with over 70% concentrated in the UK, Germany, France and Southern Europe.  

AFI Europe signed a pre-agreement to sell AFI Park 1-3 office buildings to Dedeman, a Romanian DIY retail company. The agreement also includes an option to sell AFI Park 4&5. The total price for AFI 1-5 is approximately €164 million. 

Calioppe Investments has acquired the scheme from Rank Progress, a Warsaw Stock Exchange listed company engaged in the property investment and development sector. The total value of the transaction amounts to €26.7 million including €15.2 million of debt financing. The seller has been advised by BNP Paribas Real Estate.

Investment flows into the CEE region rose 70% year-on-year in Q1 2017. The level of €2.8 billion is some €0.5 billion higher than the preliminary estimate of €2.3 billion Colliers International published at the beginning of April. Money invested into the Czech Republic  (56% share) and Hungary (19% share) contributed particularly to the significant jump. Looking within the numbers, the retail sector accounted for nearly half (47%) of the flows, leaving the office sector trailing with a 21% share. Of interest and also a sign of buoyant economic growth, the fastest growth was seen in the hotel sector with a portfolio transaction contributing to the €415mn total (a 15% share). 

The Czech property market saw exceptionally strong investment flows into commercial real estate in Q1 2017 worth €1.57 billion, which was almost double the transaction value compared with the same period of last year, according to Colliers International.