Poland Leads Central, Eastern Europe Climb

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.