Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Slovakia Real Estate Industry Market Report Q1 2013

The Slovakia Real Estate report examines the commercial office, retail, industrial and construction sectorsthroughout the country in the context of a market stymied by regional weakness.

With a focus on the principal cities of Bratislava, Kosice, and Trencin, the report covers the rental marketperformance in terms of rates and yields over the past 18 months and examines how best to maximisereturns in the commercial real estate market, while minimising investment risk and exploring the impactof regional dynamics on a market that looks set to comparatively outperform its regional peers. Investorsentiment, the business environment and infrastructure are also explored. Rents for commercial real estatein Slovakia remained broadly flat in H112, however it is notable that the first six months of 2012 saw theindustrial segment wobble in spite of the export sector's comparative outperformance.

Key factors that will dictate the performance of the sector in 2013, and full-year 2012 data, are theeconomic situation both regionally and domestically, political stability and the fate of the constructionsector.

Key Points of Slovakia Real Estate Market 2013

New figures from the European Commission highlight a drastic fall in EU constructionproduction in April 2012, reflecting increasing austerity cuts and a slump in private investmentas the eurozone crisis fails to abate. The figures support our muted growth outlook for theEuropean construction industry and highlight a number of trends which continue to weigh on thesector.

We have revised up our real GDP growth projections for 2012, which we now forecast at 2.5%.However, drilling down into the breakdown of expenditure confirms our view that net exportsnow remains the sole remaining driver of growth for Slovakia, with household and governmentconsumption flat. Household and government consumption are expected to remain weak due toausterity conditions and structural unemployment.

The adoption of a number of revisions to Slovakia's labour market code designed to improveworker's rights poses both near- and long-term risks to the economy. From a short-termperspective increasing labour market rigidity at time of slowing economic growth and risingpayroll levies could prompt companies to begin laying off employees early in order to avoidadditional costs. From a long-term viewpoint, the reforms could reduce Slovakia'scompetitiveness through, prompting foreign investors to seek new bases for manufacturingoperations

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