More than EUR 3.5 bn of investment real estate product is being actively offered for sale in the core CEE markets of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, according to Cushman & Wakefield. This is marginally up on the previous quarter.

The seller type is split equally between developers seeking to exit investments and investors wishing to trade on. The latter is starting to take advantage of the improving market with increased investor interest and improving pricing driven largely by yield compression.

The retail sector accounts for almost half of the volume, at EUR 1.7 bn, with at least four shopping centres currently being marketed each with lot sizes exceeding EUR 200 mln. In terms of geographical spread, Poland continues to dominate, accounting for EUR 2 bn (58%).

'There remains, however, a lack of core product in the capital cities, particularly in the office sector, with owners preferring to hold best-of-class buildings in anticipation that the market will continue to improve in their favour,' said Charles Taylor, partner at Cushman & Wakefield.

'In Hungary availability levels remain low. This is expected to change, as activity levels increase, aided by improving fundamentals and investor sentiment, and particularly the sizeable pricing discount that is currently available relative to the Polish and Czech markets,' he added.