Labour shortage and rising costs in construction are problems developers in CEE have had to learn to live with over the past years. Dr. Zoltán Nádasdy MRICS, Partner, Head of CEE Real Estate Investments Group at Noerr talked to Property Forum about the legal challenges investors and developers face on the Hungarian, Romanian and Polish markets.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank provided an investment loan and a VAT facility of €90 million in total to two real estate funds managed by Credit Suisse Asset Management. The funds will utilise the proceeds for the acquisition of the prime office building Astoria in Warsaw from the developer Strabag. pbb acted as arranger and sole lender under the facilities.

The first half of 2019 witnessed two new office completions in Szczecin totalling nearly 3,500 sqm, whilst another 27,300 sqm is expected to be added to the city’s stock by the end of this year.

Skanska has sold two office buildings in Poland – Nowy Targ in Wroclaw and High5ive in Krakow –to real estate funds managed by Credit Suisse Asset Management Global Real Estate.

Zeitgeist Asset Management, a company specialising in property development and asset management for the private and institutional investors, purchased from the Orange company, on 29 August, a complex of real properties located 300 meters from the Palace of Culture and Science, at Nowogrodzka and Św. Barbary Streets in Warsaw.

Metro Properties, the real estate company of METRO AG, sold 11 Cash & Carry stores in Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic in a sale-and-leaseback transaction. The portfolio has been acquired by FLE GmbH, Vienna, subsidiary of French LFPI Group, investing on behalf of an AIF regulated fund. The transaction was finalized in August 2019, with a total volume exceeding €250 million. Metro and Makro Cash & Carry will continue to operate all wholesale locations on the basis of long-term lease contracts.

Commercial land prices have been stable over the first half of 2019, while prices for residential sites continue their rising trend at a slower pace, according to Colliers International.

Cromwell Property Group has exercised its pre-emptive right to acquire a third-party investor interest in the Cromwell Polish Retail Fund (CPRF), which it has managed since acquiring the investment and asset manager from GE Capital Real Estate in 2013. The fund contains seven catchment dominating shopping centres with a gross asset value of circa €600 million. Since taking over the management of the fund, Cromwell has completed several major asset management initiatives including several refurbishments and expansions, as well as numerous lettings including a 170,000 sqm deal with Auchan and Schiever Polska across eight long-term leases in 2015.

JLL has been selected by White Stone Group as property manager for the Celebro office building in Warsaw. The building has already been commissioned for use and its first tenants will relocate to the project in September 2019.

According to JLL, the value of real estate investment transactions in Central and Eastern Europe totalled more than €5.47 billion in H1 2019. Poland is the clear front-runner accounting for €2.72 billion (almost 50% share), followed by the Czech Republic with €1.68 billion (30%). In both countries, Asian investors, particularly those from South Korea, have been remarkably active. Total volumes in Hungary amounted to €400 million, while in Romania and Slovakia total volumes hit €338 and €350 million respectively.