The Prague Research Forum is pleased to announce the office market figures for the fourth quarter of 2011. The members of the Prague Research Forum – CB Richard Ellis, Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield, DTZ, Jones Lang LaSalle – share non-sensitive information with the aim of providing clients with consistent, accurate and transparent data about the Prague office market.
It seems that the situation in the housing market is finally starting to stabilize. If there are still objections raised in some cities, this would certainly not be the case of Bratislava. As Lexxus, a company operating on the Slovak housing market since 2005, notes in its latest newsletter, there were new projects in the capital during the summer and early autumn and the number of sold flats also increased. What stirred it up, according to Lexxus? Discounts, but also well selected products in an attractive location. Real estate experts also add the availability of mortgages, and they all claim that the best time to buy a flat or a house has come now.
According to a recent survey conducted by KPMG, investment in real estate projects in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has shown increase in 2011. Banks´ trust in their financing is yet the highest in Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic, followed with some distance by Slovakia and Romania. Banks’ optimistic outlook of the real estate market is also positively reflected in the total value of investment transactions.
Looking at the office property development now, apart from the quarterly or yearly comparison, it is clear that something is – at least in the capital of Slovakia – finally stirring. Investor Pressburg Urban Projects the launched long postponed construction of an office building Forum Business Center at the corner of Bajkalská and Prievozská streets. This project will bring 17,600 sqm of A-class leasable area. Company Immocap Group announced just a few days ago that the 19,000 sqm of administration section of the multi-purpose complex Centrál, which is expected to be completed within next year, is already 75% occupied. Yet, this is not all.
Since 2006, our company CEEC Research carries out regular research of the construction sector in the Visegrad Four countries. Over this six-year period, we have had the opportunity to monitor the development not only of construction sector itself, but also changes in behaviour and management of individual companies. Especially the last three years were very turbulent in this respect, and without exaggeration we can call them the beginning of transformation of the Czech construction industry.
Not only people, but also websites need to take a rest, so we will take leave partly in August. But really only partly as we will continue to bring news on events in the real estate sector. Certainly, they will not be dull affairs, the real estate is truly “pregnant“ with expectations. “Hopefully it will get going!“, this is what Omar Koleilat from Crestyl hopes in the interview you will soon read on our website.
The project for more than a billion crowns, the construction of office centre Nová Karolina Park near the Ostrava downtown is on track again, after a two-year break. A new investor has been found – company GEMO Olomouc has put 200 million crowns into the project. Construction work was resumed last week. “We had to take some risk. But we are glad that we could enter into the project,” said Jaromír Uhýrek , CEO of GEMO Olomouc.
Philadelphia skyscraper – the latest addition to the numerous family of buildings the BB Centrum in Michle – already has a tenant. It is UniCredit bank, which will occupy 14 of its 17 floors, including the ground floor, which is 26,700 sqm. This report from the Prague office market rhymes well with the European trend. Banks, traditional engine of the sector – after years of so-called optimization – are again beginning to expand their office space.
After the fall caused by global recession when the housing prices in the Czech Republic have fallen by 21%, and the family home prices by 5% since 2008, the Czech real estate market is reviving and the prices of residences should remain stable. Moderate risk of further downward movement could perhaps be caused by forced sales of new buildings and deregulation. A similar situation – not alarming, but not ideal, determined mainly by weaker demand – is (found) in the segment of commercial real estate. This is how the Czech National Bank (CNB) in its this year's financial stability report describe the Czech real estate market.
Czech hotel property development should be – at least judging by reality – in a rather gloomy mood. The global economic recession, which has strongly affected tourism and hence investors´ demand for hotel capacities, hasn´t fully subsided yet. However, it is obvious that many a domestic property developers or investors are able to view and ponder in a longer perspective – and their optimism is backed by the latest statistical figures as well as long-term prognosis.
Czech property development, hit and shaken by the impacts of the real estate crisis, is slowly picking up breath again. A number of new projects has already started and apart from residential and office buildings and logistics centres, construction of business units has already started too. Let´s mention for instance the new outlet centre in the Nový Jičín area and further expansion of shopping centres Černý Most and Futurum. And according to various surveys, it is the commercial complexes, on which investors focus their attention now. At the same time the positive future of “retail” property development in the Czech Republic is confirmed by reports about the planned expansion of a number of business chains in Central Europe.
