Real estate investment turnover in central and eastern Europe reached €1.2bn in the first two months of 2011, according to CB Richard Ellis.
This figure includes the acquisition of Oesterreichische Volksbanken Europolis’s real estate unit by CA Immobilien Anlagen, one of the largest property companies in Austria, in a deal announced during summer 2010 but officially completed this January.
This acquisition supported a further improvement in investor sentiment towards the region and liquidity is improving in an increasing number of markets across CEE.
Deal activity outside central Europe has also started to re-emerge. Towards the end of 2010, investment activity in south-eastern Europe had already started to improve, a trend that continued this year.
Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania have seen institutional investors and transactions return. A recent example is the sale to Europa Capital of a retail park in the Bulgarian regional city of Plovdiv.
Poland remains a key target for investors and although a limited number of transactions were closed in the office sector in January and February, activity and interest in the market generally remains high. On the back of Poland’s economic performance, an increasing number of investors have the country high on their investment agenda.
In the Czech Republic, no transactions were closed in the first two months of this year, although activity is expected to increase in the next few months as some large deals come to completion. Hungary, a market hit hard by the financial crisis, is also witnessing a pick-up in investment activity, although the majority of this is still retail-led.
