Real Estate Briefs

Kudos for Cushman & Wakefield Prague
Cushman & Wakefield Prague (C&W) has been voted the Best Real Estate Agency of the Year in the Czech Republic by readers of the Construction & Investment Journal, a building and development industry magazine that covers the Central and East European markets. It is the sixth time C&W has taken home the annual award.

Government retains control of LOM aircraft repair plant
The Letecké opravny Malešice (LOM) aircraft repair plant will continue to be owned by the state, despite longtime plans by the government to privatize the facility, the Czech News Agency reported. Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra told journalists Nov. 23 the government still plans to sell off parts of the property, which it feels can bring in hundreds of millions of crowns. LOM is the only EU and NATO company certified to repair Russian-made Mi helicopters, of which nearly 200 are currently operated by NATO armies. Officials say the amount of money that could be earned in the coming years when the aircraft will need repairs is worth more than what the state could make by selling the land to developers.

Uptick in real estate market
The Czech industrial real estate market enjoyed a strong third quarter, as did most of Europe's major markets, after seeing a sharp drop in the second quarter, according to real estate consultants Jones Lang LaSalle. In Europe, industrial investment totaled 2.3 billion euros in the third quarter, a 13 percent increase over the second quarter, which had dropped 14 percent after a strong start to the year. The leading industrial markets of Germany, France and the United Kingdom accounted for more than two-thirds of the total industrial investment in Europe. In Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, industrial investment volumes increased nearly 125 percent from the third quarter of 2010.

JF Hamliton Real Estate making inroads in ČR
French realty giant JF Hamilton Real Estate told the daily Hospodářské noviny it is making inroads into the Czech and Slovak markets, currently working on deals in Prague and Jihlava and already has a number of residential properties in the Prague city center, most of which are rent-controlled, multifamily units. The firm also recently purchased all of the properties in Slovakia previously held by Sekyra, a Czech property management group that left the Slovak market. Sekyra reached an agreement with Hamilton for 60 million euros.

Industrial space leased in Q3
More than 127,000 square meters of industrial space were rented by businesses in the south Moravian region in the third quarter, with the majority of the leases coming from Brno, according to a report released by commercial real estate consultants Cushman & Wakefield. The Czech Republic saw a total of 292,000 square meters of industrial space leased in the third quarter, which is the highest figure for one quarter in the history of the country's industrial leasing market, according to the report. The third-quarter figure nearly doubled the amount of space leased in both the first and second quarters.

Real estate market statistics
The domestic real estate market reached its lowest point since 2008 in September, according to numbers released by the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre (ČÚZK) in November. From January through September, 491,399 total property transactions were recorded, the lowest year-on-year figure since the ČÚZK began tracking such numbers and a 3 percent drop from 2010. Last year, 506,257 transactions were recorded by the ČÚZK. The sector with the biggest difference from the same period of time in 2010 was residential, which saw a 28 percent drop in 2011. Overall, the market has fallen 15 percent since 2008.