Weekly CRE Market Commentary

Domestic Capital and Single-Tenant BTS Deals Define a Quieter but Telling Week Across CEE Office Markets

With Poland's H1 2026 investment total confirmed at €3 billion, matching the strongest levels of the past decade, this week's activity shifted toward smaller but structurally significant transactions: a private Polish buyer taking a Warsaw office asset from Hines, WING securing a rare single-tenant BTS mandate from KPMG in Budapest, and continued evidence that Czech investment volume is accelerating sharply into H2.

Market Mood

Poland's property investment market confirmed this week that H1 2026 volume reached €3 billion across all major asset classes, aligning with the strongest decade-long levels, led by retail portfolio transactions and a gradual return of core investors. The Czech Republic told a similarly strong story, with Q2 2026 investment exceeding €1 billion, a 121% quarter-on-quarter increase and 47% year-on-year, with residential rental product dominating 41% of volume and domestic investors driving 74% of transactions. Knight Frank's forecast of approaching €3 billion for full-year Czech investment underscores that both major CEE markets are converging on decade-high annual totals simultaneously.

Where Capital Is Moving

Hines sold the Sky Office Center in Warsaw's Mokotów Business District, an approximately 4,800 sqm A-class asset, to a private Polish investor, a modestly sized but symbolically important transaction underscoring the growing confidence and activity of domestic capital in the Polish commercial property market. In Budapest, WING secured a rare single-tenant build-to-suit mandate to develop KPMG's new headquarters, an eight-storey, 8,000+ sqm building tailored exclusively for KPMG's 1,100 employees. The deal is the largest new office leasing agreement in Budapest this year and one of the few single-tenant development models currently active in the market, with delivery expected in autumn 2029.

GTC completed Centerpoint 3 in Budapest, receiving its occupancy permit and finalising the 36,600 sqm LEED Gold certified Centerpoint complex, with UNIQA Hungary already committed to over 6,000 sqm for its new headquarters on the Váci Corridor. Enea Group extended and expanded its lease at Business Garden Poznań by Vastint to a total of 11,700 sqm, the largest office transaction in Poznań so far this year.

In logistics, Panattoni began construction of a 16,500 sqm build-to-suit cross-dock terminal for InPost near Toruń, targeting BREEAM Excellent certification. FedEx opened its second-largest logistics centre in Slovakia, a facility in Košice designed to strengthen international shipment processing for eastern Slovak businesses. Lion's Head Romania confirmed it is targeting 2026 for the first phase delivery of a logistics project in Popești-Leordeni, a diversification move balancing the firm's existing office-heavy portfolio anchored by Oregon Park.

NEPI Rockcastle began preparations for an 11,000 sqm expansion of its Karolinka Shopping Centre in Opole, adding 30 retail units and underground parking with construction starting this autumn, aimed at attracting fashion retailers currently absent from the region.

CEE/SEE

Tatra Asset Management formally entered Slovakia's state-supported rental housing scheme, following government approval of an Investment Agreement on July 1, positioning the firm to channel long-term institutional capital into affordable rental housing supply. In Romania, tbi bank provided REDESIGN with €7.85 million to complete the first buildings of Phase 2 at the Stejeriș residential scheme in Brașov, seven boutique buildings totalling 46 apartments. ATAL launched sales for a 319-flat development in Poznań's Rataje district, while Duda Development's 214-flat Dyfrakcja Łódzka project in Łódź entered its final construction phase at over 95% completion. Romania's broader investment picture remained mixed: H1 2026 real estate investment fell 35% year-on-year, though retail attracted 80% of invested capital in Q2, and the transaction pipeline points toward a recovery in H2.

Slovenia and Adriatic

Slovenian real estate sector wages grew 11% year-on-year through May, the fastest growth of any sector in the country and a signal of intensifying competition for skilled talent in property management, development, and advisory roles. Croatia advanced its largest-ever railway project, the Zagreb–Rijeka line, which will shorten the current route by 56 kilometres and include a 14-kilometre tunnel, a long-term infrastructure investment with material implications for logistics real estate along the Adriatic corridor.

Outlook

This week's transactions were smaller in absolute size than the multi-hundred-million-euro deals of recent weeks, but they carry structural signal value. The Hines/Sky Office Center sale to a private Polish buyer and WING's single-tenant KPMG mandate both point toward a market where domestic capital and highly customised occupier solutions are becoming more prominent alongside the large institutional portfolio trades. With both Poland and the Czech Republic converging on decade-high annual investment volumes, H2 2026 will be a useful test of whether this momentum broadens into secondary cities and asset classes or remains concentrated in prime product.

_Sources

<sub>EuropaProperty
- EuropaProperty — Enea Group to occupy 11,700 sqm in Business Garden Poznan — https://europaproperty.com/enea-group-to-occupy-11700-sqm-in-business-garden-poznan/
- EuropaProperty — Starbucks Joins the Tenant Line-up at Fort Wola — https://europaproperty.com/starbucks-joins-the-tenant-line-up-at-fort-wola/
- EuropaProperty — lululemon opens in Bucharest; Vienna is next — https://europaproperty.com/lululemon-opens-in-bucharest-vienna-is-next/
- EuropaProperty — Poland's Investment Market Heats Up in H1 2026 — https://europaproperty.com/polands-investment-market-heats-up-in-h1-2026/
- EuropaProperty — Rossmann returns with refurbished store at Galeria Mosty — https://europaproperty.com/rossmann-returns-with-a-refreshed-store-at-galeria-mosty/</sub>

<sub>Property Forum
- Property Forum — Panattoni builds InPost logistics terminal near Toruń — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/panattoni-builds-inpost-logistics-terminal-near-torun/21756
- Property Forum — Warsaw's Praga gets to welcome new mixed-use project — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/warsaws-praga-gets-to-welcome-new-mixed-use-project/21755
- Property Forum — Czech investment market tops €1 billion in Q2 2026 — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/czech-investment-market-tops-eur1-billion-in-q2-2026/21754
- Property Forum — tbi bank backs Brașov residential scheme with €7.85 million loan — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/tbi-bank-backs-brasov-residential-scheme-with-eur785-million-loan/21758
- Property Forum — ATAL launches 319-flat development in Poznań — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/atal-launches-319-flat-development-in-poznan/21759
- Property Forum — Łódź resi project nears completion near new city centre — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/lodz-resi-project-nears-completion-near-new-city-centre/21764
- Property Forum — GTC completes office building in Budapest — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/gtc-completes-office-building-in-budapest/21763
- Property Forum — Tatra Asset Management enters Slovak rental housing scheme — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/tatra-asset-management-enters-slovak-rental-housing-scheme/21762
- Property Forum — Lion's Head Romania targets 2026 for first logistics delivery — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/lions-head-romania-targets-2026-for-first-logistics-delivery/21766
- Property Forum — FedEx opens new logistics hub in Košice, Slovakia — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/fedex-opens-new-logistics-hub-in-kosice-slovakia/21769
- Property Forum — Hines sells Warsaw office building — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/hines-sells-warsaw-office-building/21770
- Property Forum — WING to build KPMG's new Budapest HQ in rare single-tenant deal — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/wing-to-build-kpmgs-new-budapest-hq-in-rare-single-tenant-deal/21768
- Property Forum — Shopping centre in Opole gets 11,000 sqm expansion — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/shopping-centre-in-opole-gets-11000-sqm-expansion/21767
- Property Forum — Romanian transaction pipeline points to recovery in H2 2026 — https://www.property-forum.eu/news/romanian-transaction-pipeline-points-to-recovery-in-h2-2026/21773</sub>

<sub>Finance.si
- Finance.si — Plače letos do maja zrasle za sedem odstotkov — https://www.finance.si/topjob/place-letos-do-maja-zrasle-za-sedem-odstotkov/a/9049476 — Author: Lana Dakić
- Finance.si — Proga Zagreb–Reka: Hrvaška korak bliže največjemu železniškemu projektu — https://www.finance.si/logistika-%26-prevozi/proga-zagreb-reka-hrvaska-korak-blize-najvecjemu-zelezniskemu-projektu/a/9049319 — Author: Barbara Pavlin</sub>

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