The Romanian commercial property market has turned over a new leaf in recent years. Thanks to growing interest from international investors 2017 is set to become a record year on the Romanian investment market. The industrial market is among the segments growing especially strongly with one player in particular expanding its portfolio rapidly. Ana Dumitrache, Co-Country Head of CTP Romania shared her take on the Romanian market.

Skanska has acquired the Key office project in Prague’s Pankrác district from ČSAD Praha Holding for an undisclosed sum. The developer plans to start construction works before year-end.

Delta Holding subsidiary Delta Real Estate, in cooperation with AP investments, has finalised the acquisition of a shopping mall in Varna, Bulgaria. The project is worth €120 million and it will be completed in May 2018.

Atenor has acquired 19,000 sqm of land on Hungária körút, one of the main road corridors in Budapest. The site provides an opportunity to build a campus of 4 office buildings with commercial spaces covering approximately 85,500 sqm, which will be developed in different phases. Permit application for the first building is set to be submitted by the end of the year, allowing construction to begin in 2018.

CTP has acquired two logistics parks located in Western Romania from Slovak group IPEC for €18 million. The two assets are located in Ineu, Arad County and Salonta, Bihor County and have a total leasable area of 37,000 sqm.

Occupier and investment sentiment remains positive across all Central and Eastern European countries tracked by the RICS Commercial Property Monitor. Results for Q2 2017 show that Hungary and the Czech Republic continue to post the strongest overall results. The vast majority of respondents expect new investors to enter the market with the presence of local and CEE investors predicted to increase across the region in the year ahead.

The GTC Group has acquired a modern A-class office building in Belgrade, Serbia for an undisclosed sum. Belgrade Business Center offers 17,900 sqm of GLA and 307 parking places. The acquisition will increase GTC’s Serbian portfolio to 98,400 sqm GLA.

Hungarian developer and investor Wing has purchased the Európa Center Business and Logistic Park, located in the northernmost part of Budapest, next to the M0 ring road. Wing plans to further develop the park which has been renamed Login Business Park.

Investment volumes in Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia and Turkey) reached €7 billion in H1 2017. This is 6% less than in the same period of the previous year.

CTP has agreed to sell its non-core assets to DMO Invest for approximately €40 million. The sale involved CTP’s subsidiary CT Retail—a holding company for a portfolio of supermarkets and other retail properties.