The Central & Eastern European (CEE) commercial real estate investment market recorded a provisional 275 million turnover in the first two months of 2010, according to the most recent research by CB Richard Ellis.
This is down from the strong finish to 2009 in the final quarter, but turnover in these two months was ca. 70% higher than H1 2009 two-month average turnover. Additionally, the amount of product currently under negotiation suggests that the CEE investment market is maintaining much of the momentum it gained in late 2009.
Investors are targeting the same CEE markets in 2010 that they did in 2009. Almost 90% of turnover so far in 2010 has occurred in Warsaw, Budapest, Prague and Moscow. Institutional investors have continued to focus primarily on Central European capital city markets, which they perceive as offering reasonable income security. In fact, an increasing number of investors are classifying Poland and the Czech Republic as core markets to which they allocate funds, suggesting that these countries are overcoming the traditional east-west divide in Europe.
Stuart Bloomfield Head of Capital Markets in Prague office adds: "The slight decrease in turnover in the first two months as opposed to the final quarter is a typical market trend with Q4 usually being the most active quarter for obvious reasons. The important difference is the 70% increase over H1 2009 figures. We have already seen several large deals in Prague, Warsaw and Budapest showing that investor appetite has returned in a significant way for the core CEE capital cities. We expect this trend to continue throughout 2010 with transaction volume once again weighted towards the end of the year."
Source: CBRE
