beLUX czech republic france georgia germany Ghana greece hungary ireland iSRAEL iTALY kazakhstan
mauritius mozambique namIbia netherlands norway poland portugal qatar romania russia saudi arabia
serbia slovakia south africa spain sweden switzerland turkey ukraine united kingdom zambia
beLUX
BELGIUM
The market enters a crucial time of year as it is the final chance to reach objectives set out for the year. As a result, we usually see an upsurge of occupier and investment demand across all segments of Belgian real estate. However, the pandemic could negatively impact these figures.
READ IN FULL
LUXEMBOURG
Luxembourg’s economy will contract sharply this year as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis. The combined supply, demand and financial shock of the crisis means GDP is expected to contract by 6.2% in 2020, before growing almost 10% in 2021. Risks remain to the downside, linked to the effectiveness of the containment measures and the long-term consequences of disruption to the economy.
READ IN FULL
czech republic
The country’s position in the anti-epidemic ranking system moved to the third, less restricted level on 3 December. All shops and services may open again but limited to one person per 15 sq m of operating area and a queue management system inside and outside of all shops.
READ IN FULL
zambia
There has been reduced production for most of the country's sectors with most companies announcing closure even before the country goes into a lockdown period. The major casualties have been the mines, with two of the country's biggest mines announcing a lockdown with little to no production taking place on site. As a result of reduced production, the country's currency has depreciated by approximately 42% and fears are already looming that this could affect the country's GDP growth potential and further spike inflation.
READ IN FULL
UNITED KINGDOM
The investment market is functioning again. Some sellers have resumed talks with the buyers they lined up before lockdown began. And new, post-lockdown deals will bolster the pipeline as more properties open and investor tours get underway.
Given that foreign investment has been around half of total volumes in recent years, the next question is not of market functionality but capacity: could travel restrictions - enforced by governments or businesses - curtail investment volumes?
READ IN FULL
UKRAINE
On 20 May, the Government issued the decree, extending quarantine until 22 June, though further gradually relaxing the lockdown rules (to be implemented subject to local authorities’ decision). Amongst others, the following activities have been allowed:
>> 22 May: hotels (except for restaurants) and public road transport (within city / region);
>> 25 May: metropolitan and kindergartens;
>> 1 June: indoor sports and fitness centres (excluding group trainings >10 people), passenger rail transport along with public interregional road transport;
>> 10 June: eateries with indoor seating areas, hostels / sanatoriums / recreation complexes, and culture establishments with the requirement of a maximum 1 person per 5 sq m;
>> 15 June: operation of air transport.
READ IN FULL
TURKEY
Parallel to governments around the world, restrictions on lockdown in Turkey were eased gradually, along with the curfew imposed for the Eid holiday being lifted from 1 June.
Following the contraction revisions of Turkey’s 2020 GDP growth from Oxford Economics by 5.1% and Standard & Poor by 3.1%; Fitch and IMF have updated their expectations that the Turkish economy will shrink by 3% and 5% respectively. Moody’s Analytics is forecasting a parallel projection by reducing growth forecast and foresees the economy to contract by 5% from 1.4% in 2020. Yet, all these credit rating providers’ expectations show similar outcome that the Turkish economy to grow by partial rebound in the range between 3.5% to 7.1% in 2021. Therewithal, despite the ease in monetary policy, weakening in local currency and contraction of economy due to the pandemic will weigh on investments.
READ IN FULL
SWITZERLAND
The number of new COVID-19 cases has risen almost exponentially over the last weeks, and as of today, the federal government in Switzerland has decided on several additional measures that will drastically impact everyday life.
READ IN FULL
SWEDEN
The 14-day running country infection rate per 100,000 residents continues to increase, reaching 684 on 3 December. Recent new restrictions include preschool children having to stay home if a family member has tested positive for COVID-19 and upper secondary schools moving to online teaching from 7 December. Swedish Authorities plan to vaccinate approximately 2 million people during Q1, prioritising risk groups and essential workers.
READ IN FULL
SPAIN
With the second wave of the pandemic gathering momentum in Spain, several new measures have been taken by the national and local governments to curb the infection rate.
READ IN FULL
SOUTH AFRICA
As South Africa faces a steep decline of COVID-19 infections and a recovery rate of 88%, life all around is quickly starting to return to ‘normal’. Traffic is gearing up; malls are bustling and restaurants filling with eager customers - yet offices all over South Africa are still predominantly empty. A sore sight driving around the city like tombstones marking the cityscape where activity flourished only a few months ago.
READ IN FULL
france
The reopening of non-essential businesses at the end of November and the easing of restrictions on people’s travel was the major event of the last 15 days in France. The next stage is set for 15 December, this brings total freedom of mobility, a welcome announcement for the end of the year holidays but which is conditional on improved results regarding the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
READ IN FULL
georgia
December has ushered yet another lockdown in Georgia. In the last week of November, the Government announced the closure of public gathering spaces as well as the temporary grounding of public transport. Shopping centres will remain closed until mid-December, when they will get a short reprieve. The lockdown goes on through January and may be amended providing that the epidemiological situation improves by then.
READ IN FULL
GERMANY
On 1 December, more severe measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 were imposed, further restricting social contact. The ‘lockdown light’ was extended twice in the last two weeks and is currently effective until 10 January. The aim is to reduce the 7-day incident rate to 50 new cases per 100,000 people from the 142 reported nationally last Sunday, with only two Federal States currently below 50 and 32 districts in excess of 250.
READ IN FULL
GHANA
The impact of COVID-19 on the economy is projected to present challenging times for the country. Ghana's GDP is expected to decline sharply to 2.6% from the projected 6.8% for the year 2020 with many job losses, reduction in disposable income and economic hardships expected. There has been an increase in the price of commodities as a result of panic buying with borders, schools and offices (except for essential services) being closed until further notice.
The Government of Ghana has instituted several social and economic interventions to deal with hardships that may occur amid the pandemic and the police and military have been deployed to ensure compliance with the Government’s directive to stay home, under the tag line #spreadcalmnotfear.
READ IN FULL
HUNGARY
As of 7 December, the number of daily new cases has somewhat decreased to 3,800 from the average November numbers when the daily new cases had reached around 5,500.
The State of Emergency declared on 4 November is still in effect. On 11 November a partial curfew was introduced whereby between 20.00 and 5.00 everybody is required to stay indoors, whether at home or in accommodation.
READ IN FULL
IRELAND
Ireland entered a nationwide lockdown on Wednesday 21 October, with the lockdown to remain in place for six weeks. Under the new restrictions, people are advised to stay at home, with only essential workers attending work in person and only essential retail and services to remain open.
READ IN FULL
ISRAEL
As of 24 September, the Israeli Government made an announcement on additional market closures.
READ IN FULL
ITALY
Italy is approaching the Christmas holidays and, despite the decline in the number of cases after last month’s peak (over 40,000 new cases on 13 November against circa 19, 000 on 6 December), there is concern about a potential third virus wave with the easing of restrictions over the next period.o“We have to avoid a third wave in January which could be violent,” said Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte introducing the new measures.
READ IN FULL
KAZAKHSTAN
According to the latest State figures, the number of confirmed cases has passed 107,000, while 102,000 infected people have successfully recovered. Kazakhstan reports daily infection rates remaining stable since 1 August.
READ IN FULL
MAUITIUS
The Mauritian Government imposed a 14-day nationwide lockdown on 20 March, which has subsequently been extended to 4 May, with only essential services being operational during this period. During the initial lockdown, the Government declared martial law, stating that no one could leave their residence without a letter from the Government. For over a week everything was shut down, not even supermarkets were open for trade. As a country heavily reliant on tourism, import and export services, the lockdown is sure to come at a heavy cost, with a negative effect on the Mauritian economy.
READ IN FULL
MOZAMBIQUE
Effective 1 April, a one-month State of Emergency was declared in Mozambique with the implementation of travel bans and boarder closures. The restrictions imposed by the Government have been minimal, mainly affect the trading hours of city markets, informal retailers, street vendors and bars. Alongside the COVID-19 crisis is the decrease in oil prices, affecting the main drivers of the Mozambican economy. Although there is uncertainty of how COVID-19 will evolve in Mozambique, a high contamination rate of the population is expected, reducing business confidence in the economy.
READ IN FULL
NAMIBIA
The Namibian economy was already under severe pressure, having been in a recession for two years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, with mining and agriculture performing below expectations, primarily as a result of the continued drop in commodity prices and the severe draught experienced in the country. With the closing of borders and nationwide lockdown, tourism, the main contributor to Namibia’s GDP growth, has been devastatingly affected.
READ IN FULL
NETHERLANDS
From mid-July onwards, the coronavirus is steadily bouncing back into Dutch public life after having it almost completely reduced to zero in the first weeks of July. Having successfully reopened schools in June without new outbreaks, the start of the summer holidays could not be better as a wave of optimism and positivism boosted the nation, but soon proved to be the starting point of a collective neglect of all the distancing rules which were and still are in place. As a consequence, the number of new cases is approaching levels which were last seen during lockdown.
READ IN FULL
NORWAY
Norway has gone through its second wave, but it’s a mere swell compared to the storm many European countries have experienced. Norway has only suffered 353 deaths due to the virus. The second wave hit mostly the cities of Oslo and Bergen, but the infection rates are declining going into the Christmas season.
READ IN FULL
POLAND
Shopping centres reopened on 28 November, after 3 weeks of limited operations. Restaurants, fitness clubs, cinemas, and theatres, however, remain closed at least until 27 December. The Government also slightly eased the Sunday trading ban allowing stores to be open on one additional Sunday on 6 December.
READ IN FULL
PORTUGAL
The State of Emergency was renewed for another 15 days starting 9 December with partial lockdown in the most affected areas (including Greater Lisbon and Porto) between 23.00 and 6.00, as well as from 15.00 on weekends. There is likely to be a degree of relaxation over the Christmas period.
READ IN FULL
QATAR
As the second wave of the pandemic grips’ countries around the world, we see Qatar holding firm in its decision to remain in Phase 4 of its lockdown measures until 31 December 2020. This may be extended again into Q1 2021, however that is yet to be seen.
READ IN FULL
ROMANIA
In the real estate market, the industrial sector has shown encouraging signs as both demand and supply were at almost similar levels compared to Q1 2019, a trend expected to continue going forward. However, all retail projects have drastically reduced their activity in late March as a precautionary measure dictated by the current State of Emergency. Several scheduled deliveries have been postponed for the second part of the year.
Moreover, while the level of new office space delivered in Bucharest was similar to Q1 2019, the leasing activity recorded a 50% y-o-y decrease in Q1 2020.
READ IN FULL
RUSSIA
The number of COVID-19 cases has stabilised at about 5000 daily cases across Russia. There are spikes in selected regions, but overall the situation remains stable.
Closed borders resulted in the massive growth in domestic travel. Vacation destination experience huge in number of visits.
Almost all retail centres are now open, however restrictions are applied. The major topic is the second wave of lockdowns. The Government denies any plans for this, but businesses are preparing themselves regardless.
READ IN FULL
SAUDI ARABIA
For the last 10 days or so, the Saudi Government has imposed a 24/7 curfew and severe travel restrictions across major cities including Riyadh.
Whilst we have noticed the ‘black hole effect’ with some clients/potential clients/industry peers and supply chain, in other instances its ‘business as usual’ with Cushman & Wakefield receiving enquiries and feedback on proposals submitted.
READ IN FULL
SERBIA
In the last month, the COVID-19 pandemic situation has been continuously deteriorating, and the Government has introduced several measures to slow down the spread of coronavirus. As of 4 December, new measures have been introduced, including the weekend closure of all shops, malls, children's play spaces, restaurants, etc. although supermarkets, pharmacies and petrol stations will operate normally, while cinemas and theatres may open every day until 17.00.
READ IN FULL
SLOVAKIA
Slovakia will receive the coronavirus vaccine in January at the earliest. After the New Year, the European Medicines Agency will decide on the registration of vaccines from two pharmaceutical companies, the consortium BioNTech and Pfizer and Moderna Biotech Spain. It will also be assessed whether the data provided on pharmaceutical quality and the results of the studies are adequate and sufficient.
READ IN FULL
Greece
On Wednesday 12 August, Greece reported its highest daily tally since the start of the outbreak in the country with 230 new cases of COVID-19. The country’s pandemic death toll stands at 226. Aiming to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Greece, the Government announced a series of new precautionary measures on 17 August, including extra restrictions for the islands of Paros and Antiparos. Click through to find out the measures being applied from 17 August through to 24 August.
READ IN FULL