Investment activity in the major markets is slowing down

The last three months of the year are expected to be strong period for the markets in the region, but the records at the end of 2011 will not be reached.

Investment activity of the major real estate markets in Central and Eastern Europe - Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, has increased slightly in the third quarter, says a report from the major consulting companies.

Investments in the sector for the period from July to September were only 532 million, which is significantly less than the amounts reported in prior years.

Compared to investments in the second quarter, however, progress has been made. The publication notes that during the period from April to June the volume of investments of major Central and Eastern European property markets was 435 million euro.

Since the beginning of the year, five states have attracted 1.9 billion real estate investments, nearly 41 % of the volume reported for the same period last year (4.66 billion), experts estimate.

The data for the third quarter were disappointing, due to the lower number of transactions and protraction of time for concluding a bargain.

The main trend is positive, especially for Poland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, where investors` seeking is stable.

There are a lot of bargains on the major markets in Central and Eastern Europe and this shows the development of the sector and leads to the suggestion that the last three months of the year will be a strong period for the property market in the regions.

However, experts do not expect the fourth quarter of the year to improve the record amount of investment which was reported in the last three months of last year. It is expected that the volume of investments in the sector in the region will reach 3.5 billion by the end of October -December, while at the same time last year 6.1 billion were recorded.

According to the consulting companies Poland is a leader in attracted investments in the real estate sector in the region since the beginning of the year, it has reached 1.15 billion. The next is the Czech Republic with 452 million.

The interest of investors is moving from offices to trade plots, said the experts.