Poland and Russia were the main destinations for real estate investors in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in the first nine months of 2013, making Romania and Ukraine the only two countries in the region to report lower real estate transaction values, according to a CBRE report cited by Mediafax.
Only two transactions worth EUR 84 million were closed in the first nine months of 2013 in Romania. This was down 51 percent y-o-y, according to the same source. In Ukraine no transaction was closed while last year investors bought properties worth EUR 249 million. Neighboring Bulgaria reported transactions worth EUR 27 million, a value three times higher compared to the first nine months of the previous year.
While Romania reported fewer transactions, in the CEE region real estate transactions totaled EUR 6.8 billion, up 47 percent y-o-y. Most of these transactions were closed in Russia (EUR 3.6 billion, up 41 percent y-o-y) followed by Poland (close to EUR 2 billion, up 81 percent y-o-y), the Czech Republic (EUR 597 million, up from EUR 378 million in the first nine months of 2012) and Slovakia (EUR 190 million, up from EUR 1 million in the first nine months of 2012 ). Hungary was another country to report a higher real estate investment volume – EUR 129 million, up from EUR 84 million. Real estate investments in the Baltic Countries amounted to EUR 152 million, more than twice as more compared to the first nine months of 2012.
All real estate sectors reported growth but most transactions involved office projects followed by retail and industrial. Office transactions amounted to over EUR 3 billion, (up 92 percent) followed by retail (EUR 2.67 billion, up 66 percent) and industrial (EUR 607 million, up 49 percent).
Simona Bazavan