Investor demand for prime retail assets in Central Europe is at its strongest since the market collapsed in 2008, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The property adviser says in a new report that investors are seeking increased exposure to select Central European economies - notably Poland and the Czech Republic - that look set to out perform many Western European markets in terms of GDP growth over the next 3 years.

Those 'best of class' assets recently brought to the market in Central Europe have seen aggressive bidding from institutional buyers, whether the lot size is EUR 50 mln or EUR 200 mln. Significantly, for the larger assets there are a number or retail specialist investors and pure financial advisors prepared to joint forces to acquire and manage such properties.

Transactional activity in the first four months of 2011 has reinforced the dominance of the retail sector which accounted for virtually 50% of the previous year’s investment volumes. Given that prime shopping centre yields are at 5.50% in London and 5%-5.50% in France and Germany, Central Europe continues to offer an attractive discount at 6% - 6.25% for Poland and 6.25% for Czech. Given the competitive bidding seen in the last few weeks, continued downward pressure on yields seems inevitable as does an increased level of transactional activity in this sector, according to C&W.