Investments in commercial real estate across the six largest markets of Central and Eastern Europe reached EUR5.8 billion in the first half of 2026, increasing by approximately 7% compared with the same period last year, according to the Colliers CEE Investment Scene H1 2026 report.
The study covers Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria. The investment volume was above the average for the first halves of the past five years, which amounted to EUR4.6 billion, and above the ten-year average level of EUR5.1 billion.
Poland became the largest market, where the volume of transactions exceeded EUR3 billion. It accounted for around 52% of all CEE-6 investments. The Czech Republic ranked second with more than EUR1.4 billion, while Hungary attracted almost EUR600 million, showing the best first-half result since 2021.
According to Colliers, the market recovery differs from previous investment cycles. Capital is returning selectively, with investors giving preference to properties with stable income, good locations, high energy efficiency and long-term demand from tenants.
Offices became the largest segment, followed by retail real estate, residential properties and institutional rental, as well as industrial and logistics real estate.
Colliers forecasts that by the end of 2026, the volume of investments in CEE-6 commercial real estate may reach EUR12.5-13 billion, compared with EUR11.6 billion in 2025, and approach the peak levels observed before the pandemic.
Among the main risks for the market, experts cite high interest rates, rising refinancing costs, geopolitical tensions, weakness in German industry and energy costs. At the same time, additional investment opportunities are being created by infrastructure projects, the defense industry, the energy transition, artificial intelligence, reindustrialization and the relocation of production closer to European consumers.
Colliers is a global professional services and investment management company operating in more than 70 countries. Its annual revenue amounts to around $6 billion, its workforce totals around 28,000 people, and assets under management amount to approximately $110 billion.
BUSINESS, COLLIERS, EUROPE, EXPERTS CLUB, INVESTMENTS, REAL ESTATE
The EU economy today faces challenges such as rising energy prices, fragmentation of the single market, complex administrative rules, and competition that is not always fair, said European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen.
“For a long time, the European economic model was based on several self-evident truths: cheap imported energy, open global trade, ever-wider access to the Chinese market, strategic protection from the U.S., and the West’s technological edge. These truths have disappeared,” the EC President stated while delivering a speech on Thursday in Paris at the annual “2026 Meeting of French Entrepreneurs” conference.
Von der Leyen sees the solution to these pressing problems as restoring entrepreneurs’ freedom to invest in the short term and, in the long term, making innovation, productivity, and scaling up the sustainable drivers of European economic growth.
The European Commission President outlined her prescriptions for healing the European economy.
The first priority is to simplify regulations and restore a level playing field. The goal is to reduce the administrative burden by 25% for all businesses and by 35% for small and medium-sized enterprises by 2029.
“However,” von der Leyen continued, “the demand for simplicity must be combined with the demand for fairness regarding foreign competition. This is particularly relevant to our relations with China. China is our major economic partner, and our position is clear and unwavering: to reduce risks, but not to sever ties. However, being a partner does not mean putting up with constant imbalances.”
She identified the financing of EU member states’ economies as the second priority. In her view, far too many projects remain stalled because the initial investment step is too risky, demand is too uncertain, or capital is too expensive. Of course, the EC President noted, these efforts cannot be financed solely through national budgets.
“But Europe has savings. Unfortunately, these savings are ‘idle.’ 10 trillion euros in household savings continue to sit in bank deposits, and a significant portion of European savings is invested outside our continent. Europe must now channel these funds to support its own businesses,” von der Leyen said.
Among other measures to strengthen the EU economy, she highlighted the comprehensive development and consolidation of the EU single market, reducing energy costs, the adoption of artificial intelligence as a “powerful driver of productivity,” and expanding free trade with international partners.
According to Interfax-Ukraine, the founders of the 2KOLYORY embroidered clothing brand—whose production facilities have repeatedly suffered damage as a result of enemy strikes—have decided to close their business, as reported on the brand’s Facebook page.
“We are closing 2KOLYORY. For over 10 years, we have been building 2KOLYORY—here in Ukraine. We sewed embroidered shirts, shared a part of our culture with the world, and worked with people we love and cherish. The war has changed more than just our lives. It has changed our business. Our production facility has survived three shelling attacks. They left behind damaged walls, windows, doors, utilities, and traces of destruction,” the post reads.
The post notes that 2KOLYORY was a brand of embroidery known in Ukraine, Europe, and America.
“We recovered. We kept working. We looked for opportunities. We fulfilled orders even when it seemed we had no strength left. But the time has come to be honest: we can no longer continue on this path in the format we’ve operated in all these years,” the founders wrote.
They assured that all orders currently in production will be fulfilled in full by the end of September.
“Perhaps this isn’t quite the end. Perhaps this is the end of 2KOLYORY as you knew it, and the beginning of something new,” the post reads.
The brand’s story began in 2015, when husband and wife Igor and Oksana Kovalenko founded their own production facility.
The brand has a store in Kyiv, and its online store offers a wide selection of linen and cotton embroidered clothing for women, men, and children, as well as home textiles.
Retail sales of Ukrainian retail enterprises—legal entities—increased by 9.1% in January–July 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, according to data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.
Thus, retail enterprises grew slightly faster than the country’s retail market as a whole, whose turnover increased by 9% during this period.
In July, enterprise turnover rose by 8.8% compared to July 2025 and by 3.7% compared to June of this year.
Overall, Ukraine’s retail trade turnover—which also includes estimates of the activities of individual entrepreneurs—reached approximately 1.7 trillion UAH over the seven-month period.
The difference between the growth rate of total turnover and that of legal entities is small—just 0.1 percentage points. However, the fact that comparable growth rates have been maintained indicates that the retail market’s growth is driven not only by small businesses but also by the corporate retail segment.
Retail enterprises include, in particular, national and regional supermarket chains, non-food stores, home appliance and electronics chains, pharmacies and specialty retailers, auto dealers, and other legal entities engaged in retail sales.
By the end of 2025, Ukraine’s retail trade had grown by 8.1%, so the figures for the first seven months of 2026 so far indicate that the market is maintaining higher growth rates.
Statistics from the State Statistics Service do not include territories temporarily occupied by Russia or parts of territories where hostilities are ongoing or have taken place.
Only 11 of the 103 criminal cases involving corporate raiding registered in Ukraine between January and July 2026 were referred to court, according to data from the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine published by Opendatabot and analyzed by the Experts Club think tank.
Thus, approximately 10.7% of the cases reached the court stage—roughly one in nine cases.
In another 21 cases, law enforcement agencies issued notices of suspicion. This corresponds to roughly one in five cases registered since the beginning of the year.
All 11 cases that reached court relate to Article 205-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—the forgery of documents submitted for state registration of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.
In total, 74 cases were opened under this article between January and July, accounting for nearly 72% of all proceedings related to corporate raiding.
The prospects for court proceedings regarding categories that are more serious from a business perspective look significantly worse.
Over the course of seven months, law enforcement agencies registered 17 proceedings concerning the unlawful seizure of property belonging to an enterprise, institution, or organization under Article 206-2 of the Criminal Code and 12 proceedings concerning obstruction of lawful economic activity under Article 206.
None of these 29 proceedings had been referred to court as of the publication of this study.
At the same time, the number of cases involving the unlawful seizure of corporate property in just the first seven months of 2026 already exceeded the total for the entire previous year, and their share in the overall structure of raider-related cases rose from 7% in 2025 to approximately 17% this year.
Overall, the number of registered raider attacks continues to decline. From January through July, there were 103 such cases—36% fewer than during the same period in 2025, and approximately five times fewer than before the start of the full-scale war.
BUSINESS, COURT, PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE, raider attacks, UKRAINE
According to Experts.news, amid an overall decline in the number of criminal proceedings related to corporate raiding, the proportion of cases involving the unlawful seizure of corporate assets has risen sharply in Ukraine: From January through July 2026, 17 such cases were already registered, exceeding the total for all of 2025, according to data from the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine published by Opendatabot and analyzed by the Experts Club think tank.
In total, 103 criminal cases classified by Opendatabot as involving corporate raiding were registered in the first seven months of this year. Their total number decreased by 36% compared to the same period last year.
However, the nature of these crimes has changed significantly.
Cases under Article 206-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—unlawful seizure of property belonging to an enterprise, institution, or organization—accounted for 17 proceedings, or about 16.5% of all raider attacks cases.
By comparison, in 2025, this category accounted for about 7%.
Thus, over the course of the year, the proportion of cases most directly related to the seizure of enterprise property more than doubled—from approximately 7% to 17%.
Another 12 cases were opened in January–July under Article 206 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which pertains to obstructing lawful economic activity.
At the same time, the majority of registered cases, as before, are related not to the direct seizure of assets but to documents. Under Article 205-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, concerning the forgery of documents submitted for state registration of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, 74 proceedings were initiated—nearly 72% of the total.
Despite the increase in the number of cases involving the unlawful seizure of property, none of the 17 such cases from January through July 2026 were referred to court. A similar situation arose with cases involving obstruction of lawful economic activity.
All 11 raiding cases referred to court since the beginning of the year involved document forgery.
Thus, official statistics reveal two opposing trends: the total number of registered raiding cases in Ukraine is declining, yet the proportion of proceedings directly related to the unlawful seizure of corporate assets is rising significantly.
BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE, EXPERTS CLUB, PROPERTY, RAIDING, UKRAINE
