Developers more optimistic

INVESTMENTS in Slovakia’s real estate market significantly increased in 2013 compared with the below-average year of 2012, according to real estate consultancy firm CBRE Slovensko. It forecasts a general growth of investment activities in central Europe, led by increased real estate investments. CBRE experts expect that outsourcing will continue to drive the office market and they also anticipate a higher demand for outsourcing specialised logistics services.

INVESTMENTS in Slovakia’s real estate market significantly increased in 2013 compared with the below-average year of 2012, according to real estate consultancy firm CBRE Slovensko. It forecasts a general growth of investment activities in central Europe, led by increased real estate investments. CBRE experts expect that outsourcing will continue to drive the office market and they also anticipate a higher demand for outsourcing specialised logistics services.

The total office stock amounted to about 1.5 million square metres in Bratislava during the final quarter of 2013. The vacancy rate amounted to 14.8 percent during the final three months of 2013, an increase by 2.3 percent compared with the final quarter of 2012. Rents were at around €16-17 per square metre per month in attractive locations while in other locations they were between €8 and €14 per square metre per month. Projects Wallenrod, Forum BC and Hamilton House extended the stock of offices in Bratislava during 2013. Completion of the Green Cube, Business Garden Štefánikova and West End projects should add a further 41,250 square metres of space.

CBRE forecasts that economic growth will resume in much of Europe in 2014 and that this will bring more activity by companies on the office market.

“Slovakia will still be popular for shared services centres; outsourcing [from] western countries and the moving of offices to Slovakia will grow,” said Oliver Galata, the head of the office department at CBRE Slovensko.

According to CBRE, out of real estate markets, industrial and logistics real estate report the biggest increase in investor interest. In 2013 investments in halls and warehouses grew by 50 percent in Europe, the trendreality.sk website wrote. According to CBRE, the high interest of investors will continue this year.

“A warehouse is actually a waterproof box, which does not have any specific usage; it can serve various activities,” Ian Worboys, the general director of PointPark Properties, one of the biggest developers in Slovakia, said in a recent interview with the Trend economic weekly.

Total modern industrial space amounted to 1.34 million square metres during the final quarter of 2013, according to CBRE. The vacancy rate in Bratislava Region was 6.4 percent, while outside the capital it was 11 percent.

CBRE expects that this year outsourcing to specialised logistics companies might be even more significant thanks to improving connection between western Europe and the CEE region and a parallel increase in production.

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