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.