According to currently available data, 13 new brands have arrived on the Czech retail market in the first six months of this year. Most of them are in the fashion segment (clothes and accessories – seven brands) and culinary concepts (F&B – three brands). The latter are set to dominate the new arrivals this year: at least six F&B brands should come to the country by the end of the year, and other brands already present will open new branches, reports Cushman & Wakefield. 

Prologis wants to help customers run their warehouses more efficiently and compete better. Therefore, it is launching Essentials, a new platform that aims to simplify the lives of companies, increase the efficiency of their warehouse operations and ultimately contribute to more functional global supply chains.

There is growing interest in mixed-use projects in the Czech Republic. These are spaces that combine offices, shops, housing, and various forms of social activities. Unfortunately, the construction of such spaces in the Czech Republic still lags behind that in neighbouring countries. The main reason for this is the very long building permitting processes. In Poland, for example, it takes only a few months to get a building permit, whereas here it usually takes years.

According to a new report by JLL, total retail space under construction in Poland totalled 387,000 sqm at the end of Q1, with 69% generated by retail parks. In addition, nearly 94,000 sqm of the first quarter’s total was attributable to shopping centres with the largest projects being the Sukcesja shopping centre in Łódź (currently undergoing renovation), the Bawełnianka shopping centre in Bełchatów (already opened in April), and Galeria Goplana located in Leszno. The convenience retail format had the sector’s smallest percentage share in space under construction.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the introduction of hybrid working, the office market in Sofia has been developing extensively in recent years. Demand continues to increase, mainly due to IT and outsourcing sector representatives, and supply still cannot fully meet it. However, property developers in regional markets are still exercising caution when initiating new investments. These are some of the main conclusions of Colliers' latest report on offices in regional cities in Bulgaria.

The scale of the destruction suffered by Ukraine as a result of the war is difficult to comprehend. The housing stock has been severely damaged, with Ernst & Young's research indicating that the scale of damage to Ukrainian real estate exceeds the volume of all new housing commissioned over the past seven years. No wonder that speaking about the Ukraine Recovery Program, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted that it will be the largest reconstruction project since World War II. The Ukrainian Real Estate Club and Property Times summarised what is known about the program in an article prepared for Property Forum.

Industrial investment volumes in Europe declined by 49% quarter-on-quarter, which was a 73% decline compared to Q1 2022. The Czech Republic is one of the three countries that has recorded the smallest decline in investment volumes year-on-year, Savills reported in the latest European Logistics Outlook. 

Brokers report a 30% drop in inquiries for purchasing a new home in Sofia. On an annual basis, the decrease in concluded deals is 15 %.

Avison Young presented the results of the investment market in Poland for the first 5 months of 2023. The volume of closed transactions announced to the public from the beginning of this year to the end of May amounted to only around €800 million, while in 2021 and 2022 in the same period, its value amounted to over twice as much. There were no large transactions, which in the first quarter of 2022 accounted for 75% of the total volume. Many buyers are trying to take advantage of the market situation and are bidding well below property valuations, hoping to get a good deal, but owners are taking their time to sell. Avison Young experts - Paulina Brzeszkiewicz-Kuczyńska (Research and Data Manager) and Marcin Purgal (Senior Director, Investment) - expect that in the second half of this year, the commercial real estate market in Poland will be dominated by opportunistic and value-add assets in every sector.

Colliers’ latest report finds that varying return-to-office approaches post-COVID, underlying fundamentals of city functionality, approaches towards ESG-compliance differences and how markets have reacted to shifts in inflation and interest rates have created a significant divergence in office investment volumes, pricing, and appetite globally. In Europe, vacancy sits at a steady 8.1% and office occupancy rates have returned mainly to pre-pandemic levels of 65% on average across Europe.