White Star Real Estate has sold the 17,000 sqm Krisztina Plaza office building in Central Buda. The name of the buyer was not disclosed.

According to a report published by Newmark Polska, the vacancy rate held firm in Poland’s regional city office markets throughout the third quarter of this year along with moderate occupier and developer activity. The need to look for savings due to high inflation and rising service charges is set to be a major challenge facing the office market in the coming quarters.

CEE-based flex office operator New Work continues to expand in its key markets. In Budapest, the company opened the second phase of its business centre in the Science Park office building in South Buda, adding 2,000 sqm of high-quality flex office space to the local market. In Warsaw, New Work opened a brand location, offering 1,135 sqm, in the Tulipan House office building in the city’s Służewiec district.

In Q3 2022, some companies in the Prague office market experienced problems with convincing employees to return to the offices. Therefore, the experts are expecting that the companies will reduce their existing leased space after their leases come to an end. Despite this expectation, 18,200 sqm of modern office space was completed and the premium rents grew and there was a decline in the vacancy rate, says a new Knight Frank report.

The third quarter of 2022 completes the dynamic new supply period observed in the Polish office market in recent years. Between January and September 2022, developers delivered 39 new investments, which increased the sector’s total stock by 560,100 sqm to over 12.7 million sqm. The period under review also registered intense activity on the demand side. At the end of Q3 2022, more than one million sqm was leased across Poland. However, the office market, like other sectors of the commercial real estate market, faces many challenges, including rising energy costs or the expected supply gap and rising rents. AXI IMMO presents data summarizing Q3 2022 in the Polish office market.

Łużycka Office Park (buildings A, B, C and D) and Łużycka Plus, all located in Gdynia, have a new owner - a joint venture of Czech open-ended real estate fund Investika and Luxembourg-based private equity investor Bud Holdings. The price has not been disclosed. 

In Q3 2022, domestic demand was still the driving force of the Slovak economy. Although rising inflation is expected to reach 12.4% in 2022, the economy should grow by 1.8%. Nevertheless, the industrial sector exceeded expectations in Q3 and kept growing at a rapid pace. In the office market, we can see restored demand in many cases and the increased leasing activity should persist towards year-end, Cushman & Wakefield published its Marketbeat Analysis for Q3 2022.

Rising energy prices and construction costs, the volatility and depreciation of the forint against the euro, rising interest rates and tightening financing conditions all represent challenges for the actors over the short term, the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) states in its fresh outlook. 

Q3 2022 in the Warsaw office market saw record-low developer activity. At the end of September, only 160,000 sqm of space was under construction. As a result, new supply is expected to drop significantly in 2023, with only 60,000 sqm of office space coming to the market, JLL reports.

According to a survey conducted by Savills involving real estate investors with total EME assets under management exceeding €500 billion, European multifamily, big box logistics, urban logistics, CBD offices and student housing are the top five sectors that investors are looking to invest in over the next 12 months.