WARSAW-Central and eastern European commercial real estate investment turnover climbed 150% in the first five months from first quarter 2009. In April and May, turnover totaled $993 million, bringing the region’s five-month investment volume close to $1.9 billion, CB Richard Ellis reports.

Investors continue to focus mainly on core central European markets, accounting for 60% of total CEE investment so far in 2Q10. Poland alone accounted for 47% of the whole region’s deals, with levels not seen since mid-2006. This is largely due to Poland’s maturing real estate market and the continuing outperformance of central Europe’s largest economy. Russia was the second-largest market in terms of activity, accounting for 25% of investment transactions in 2Q10. The majority of other south-east and eastern European markets remain illiquid, with the likes of Serbia and Bulgaria not recording any open market transactions to date.

The average size of transaction in CEE increased to $52 million in April-May from $36 million in the first quarter. After some increase in activity in the retail sector in previous months, the office sector has so far dominated in 2Q10, powered by several large office transactions in April and May. The largest transaction in CEE to date in Q2 2010 was the $185 million sale of Capital Plaza in Moscow, bought by Russian VTB Capital. In Poland, Union Investment bought Warsaw’s Horizon Plaza for $129 million and in the Czech Republic, Generali PPF bought City Empiria in Prague for some $91 million.