Property Forum is proud to be joining the first European World Built Environment Forum as a Media Partner. The event, organised by Property Forum’s long-term partner, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), will be held at the Procuratie Vecchie, Venice, a historical landmark in Piazza San Marco, in collaboration with Generali Real Estate.

Immofinanz Group recorded strong growth in both rental income and operating results in the first half of 2023. Rental income rose by nearly 80% year-on-year to €258.9 million and, at €216.8 million, the results of asset management were 97.1% higher than the first half of the previous year. The results of operations and sustainable FFO 1 from the standing investment business more than doubled to €118 million and €140.9 million, respectively.

Property Forum is excited to announce that the first edition of “The 50 most influential people in Poland’s real estate market” will be published on November 14th during our Future of Real Estate 2023 conference in Warsaw, co-organised by RICS.

According to the latest report from Cushman & Wakefield, gross warehouse take-up in Poland stabilized at over 1 million sqm in Q2 2023. Furthermore, at the end of June 2023, there was 2.1 million sqm under construction, with the relatively strong development activity being driven by higher rents encouraging investors to launch new projects. In addition, Poland entered the top three EU markets in terms of warehouse stock, jumping into third spot behind Germany and France.

According to Savills' research, the demand figures for premium office space in the first half of 2023 have started to vary significantly across Europe compared to the five-year average, Luxembourg saw a 137% increase, Oslo a 22% increase and Prague a 13% increase, while Lisbon, Dublin and Budapest saw declines of 62%, 42% and 21%. However, demand is facing a shortage of modern office buildings, especially in well-served locations. Moreover, no developer has started construction of an office building in Prague for more than 12 months. In addition, most of the projects that started with the construction earlier (e.g., Masaryčka) are already significantly occupied. On the contrary, the positive news for those interested in new offices is that up to 195,700 sqm of new office space could be built in Prague by the end of 2025, of which 143,600 sqm is already under construction, says Savills in its analysis. 

CA Immo has reported a solid operating performance record for the first half of 2023. The results for the first six months show, among other things, a significant increase in rental income (+12%) and strong income from the sale of non-strategic properties (sales result of €112 million, FFO II +122%), resulting in a 121% increase in EBITDA. In total, CA Immo generated a consolidated net profit of €13.5 million.

High demand and a lack of new projects have caused Prague's office vacancy rate to fall. It currently stands at 7.26%. The volume of new construction and refurbishments accounted for approximately 143,600 sqm at the end of Q2 2023, and the total market size was 3.85 million sqm. Benchmark rental prices did not change from the previous quarter; however, the price of office fit-out (equipping them with necessary features) is increasing due to ESG and modern standards. Such outlays can easily exceed €1,000 per sqm, according to a survey conducted by Colliers. 

The residential estate market in Bulgaria cooled down in Q2 2023, with a 15% decrease in the number of transactions compared to the same period in 2022. This was due to several factors, including rising interest rates on mortgage loans, inflation, and economic uncertainty. Buyers have become more prudent, not rushing into purchases, and often negotiating discounts ranging from 5% to 10% off the initial property sale price. These are the conclusions made by Arco Real Estate for Q2 2023.

Prague is the second most attractive market in CEE for hotel operators with a presence or interest in the region. Its popularity is backed up by H1 2023 being a period of healthy recovery for Prague hotels which achieved the second highest (after Budapest) RevPAR (revenue per available room) among the region’s capitals. In this year’s first six months, it reached €69, which is an increase of 57 percent versus H1 2022, and already a 5 percent increase versus the pre-Covid H1 2019. This was primarily driven by the strong ADR (average daily rate) growth, which surpassed 2019 levels by over 20 percent. Hotel operators are optimistic about the industry’s outlook and keen to expand across the CEE region. However, 28 percent of planned hotel projects in the region are facing delays or put on hold, mainly due to the increased development costs, reports Cushman & Wakefield in the Hotel Operator Beat survey.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s primary residential market has stalled for some time with the number of transactions in 2022 significantly decreasing. In 2023, however, most developers are observing positive trends and slow but steady growth. Iryna Nastych summarised the situation in an article prepared by the Ukrainian Real Estate Club for Property Forum.