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During Q4 2016 the total commercial real estate investment transaction volume reached some €270 million in Hungary, pushing the 2016 volume to above €1.7 billion, the highest annual figure since 2007– according to JLL Hungary’s latest preliminary statistics. According to JLL Hungary’s preliminary statistics office transactions generated roughly 48% of the annual investment volumes, followed by retail (27%) and logistics (14%). Hungarian investors generated the highest share of the annual volumes (30%) followed by US-based (20%) and German (14%) investors.

Strong demand across all investment sectors is expected to continue into 2017 in the Czech Republic and the €3 billion boundary could be exceeded once again. Retail is likely to become the most popular asset class next year, followed by offices and industrial. CBRE has released the Czech Republic Real Estate Market Outlook 2017.

Last year few would have anticipated that commercial real estate investment volumes for Hungary would even reach €1 billion this year, yet now it seems sure that 2016 will be a record year on the investment market. Over €910 million have been transacted in the first half of the year and an astonishing amount of new deals were announced in the second part of 2016, especially in the last few weeks. Looking at the transactions that took place this year, two things seem certain: one is that several new entrants made purchases in 2016 and the other is that market transparency still has a long way to go. 

CBRE has published its inaugural Understanding European Technology Clusters report, highlighting the vibrancy and rapid growth of Europe’s tech sector. The report analyses the characteristics of tech clusters and explores future opportunities among high-performing, and emerging, tech cities across Europe. 

Prague's office market has witnessed several records this year: the lowest annual office supply in history and one of the highest demand volumes. By the end of 2016, Prague´s office market will have 3,245,000 sqm of modern offices. At the same time, the Czech capital recorded the lowest annual office supply in history with only 33,600 sqm in 6 projects, On the contrary, over 180,000 sqm of new office space will be delivered to the Prague market next year. 

Warsaw’s office stock topped 5 million sqm in 2016. High growth dynamics and changing market conditions have led to inter- and intrazone tenant migration in the past two years. Building age is still central to the choice of a suitable location. Cushman & Wakefield presented its findings in a report on the future of the Warsaw office market.

Greater transparency and continuous training pave the way for higher professional standards on the real estate market. More than 100 professionals, from all over Austria and Central & Eastern Europe gathered in Vienna last week to discuss new directions in the profession at the latest RICS event. 

In 2016 the Romanian retail market was characterized by a high volume of delivered space and entry of new brands, which opened their first shops both in already existing shopping centers and in recently opened projects. Colliers International expects to see new names on the market, especially among Polish brands.

During the Q1-Q3 2016 period total commercial real estate investment transaction volume reached €1.5 billion in Hungary, nearly double the 2015 total volume, a testimony to the sharp liquidity increase – according to JLL Hungary’s latest statistics.The outstanding performance of the market was backed by the strong market fundamentals and the growing investor appetite for the high yielding Hungarian assets. Approximately 45% of the volume was generated by the office asset class followed by retail (29%) and logistics (14%). The remaining deals included a mix of hotel assets and properties for redevelopment purposes.

During the third quarter, three new office buildings were completed with a total area of 39,570 sqm – reports JLL in their latest Budapest Office Market Pulse. The increasing development activity has had an effect on the vacancy rate as well: the Budapest office market’s vacancy rate made a slight increase to 10.9% as a result of the vacant space in the newly completed buildings and in the buildings from where the tenants moved out.