Latest real estate news

Real estate developer Globe Trade Centre GTC will invest 40 million euro in a new shopping centre in the town of Osijek in Croatia, consultant and leasing agent for the project Colliers International Croatia said on April 7.

Serbian real estate firm NBGP Properties has agreed to buy the property portfolio of International CG, which includes Belgrades fivestar Hotel Continental, real estate consultancy firm Colliers International Serbia said on April 4.

Although some European markets are marking growth, latest data on residential prices indicate that things in Europe, like in the United States, are slowing down, according to a survey published by Forbes magazine on April 1.

Equest Balkan Properties investment fund said it borrowed 25.675 million euro from Raiffeisen Zentralbank Austria to finance its Equest Logistics Centre project in Romania, investor.bg reported. The loan has a fiveyear maturity.

Prices of Montenegrin real estate rose abruptly after the country declared its independence on May 21 2006, which coincided with growing investor interest, Kapital weekly reported. For instance, property along the Adriatic coast gained 96 per cent on average during the first five months of 2007, as compared to the respective period in 2006

The prospects of Russian customers to acquire a new housing unit remain relatively stable. However, like in 2007, only 13 per cent of the residents were planning to improve their living conditions or to buy a new residence in the next seven years

Colliers International Croatia says that a new wave of office development in Zagreb is underway, prompted by falling vacancy rates in recently constructed class A offices. The findings come in the international property consultants new Zagreb Office Market Overview for the first half of 2008.

UKbased international property advisory King Sturge, which declared its intention to enter the Bulgarian market, as previously reported, has already chosen a local partner ProCon International property consultants, Yani Stoimenov and Andreana Petkova, managing partners in the Bulgarian company, said in a media statement.

Russian property investment company AFI Development Plc, owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, nearly doubled last year, boosted by the rising demand for highquality office and residential space on Moscow market, the company said in a statement on March 27.