After a strong beginning of 2020, second quarter investment volumes showed a real impact of the pandemic outbreak. We have recorded a noticeable decrease, as total investment volumes reached slightly over EUR 260 mil, which is only 40% of the same period last year. Majority of those were also pre-COVID arranged transactions, which got successfully closed despite the lockdowns and restrictive measures.
Two largest transactions of this quarter were from the office sector. One of them being the acquisition of administrative building City West C1+C2 in Prague 5 by Českomoravská Nemovitostní. The second one was the acquisition of City Empiria by Czech investor PSN (Pražská správa nemovitostní). Each transaction volume reaching over EUR 70 mln.
Another notable transaction was the purchase of shopping centre OC Čestlice, concluded by HSTN Holding, which is a private investment platform founded in 2017. The deal initiated in 2019 and the closing occurred during Q2 2020.
In general, the investment activity was significantly lower during the second quarter, however, we saw the activity to start to pick up again once the lockdown measures were beginning to be lifted. This is expected to continue during Q3 and Q4.
To provide a better perspective on the evolving COVID-19 situation, as well as implications for the real estate industry, please visit our website: www.cbre.com/covid-19