Budapest Property Market News
Hungary's commercial market second only to Czech Republic |
June 30th 2004 |
The Czech, Hungarian and Polish markets offer the best opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe for commercial real estate, according to a recent report from international property consultants Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker (C&W/H&B). According to the report, all three countries can expect greater market strength without threats from other countries. The consulting company considered 50 political, economic and real estate factors in order to assess the commercial market stability and growth potential for 13 different countries - including new EU members and candidate countries such as Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia. Hungary ranked in the top three for most of the categories. The report also included Turkey as a country that has a chance to join the EU: Russia was also included as an influential state in the region.
In absolute terms the Czech Republic outperformed Hungary this year, compared to last year, while the larger Poland was only third. The difference between the three markets, however, is negligible. Slovakia occupies a distant fourth on the list. Hungary is seen as the least risky place to invest from among the three countries, and this has been true for quite a while. Poland has the greatest potential for growth among the leading three. The analysis also grouped countries by development levels and development potential. According to these benchmarks, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic own the top spots, with Slovakia and Estonia running neck and neck behind the leaders. Although the latter two have relatively high growth rates (because of their size), they are unlikely to catch up to the three leading countries. The rising third group of countries (Lithuania, Russia, Latvia and Slovenia) is a good distance back in terms of development, but they are likely to reach EU averages faster than the three leading countries. Russia, simply because of its size, is irresistible for property investors, and the market there is growing at an unbelievable pace. Russia’s entire property market is directed at foreign, and especially multinational, companies.
The yet-unsaturated markets in Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria and Turkey are seen by experts as excellent prospects. Low rents and a continuously improving business environment have prompted many manufacturers to make moves into these countries. Consequently, the demand for commercial property has grown and is expected to continue to grow in the near future - especially in Bulgaria.
Back