Unsurprisingly, 2020 saw a reduction in the A-listers on the Bulgarian real estate market, including investors in office, retail, and hospitality properties. The lockdown sent IT companies, which had been dictating the local office space market, into home office. The future of commercial and entertainment properties like shopping malls, cinemas, concert venues, and sports arenas remains uncertain – but tourism remains the hardest hit.

Estonia’s real estate market is going strong despite the uncertainties and hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of real estate transactions was 20% higher and the total value of transactions 31% higher in the fourth quarter of 2020 than the same quarter the year before (and up 11% and 31% from the third quarter of 2020). As prices also continue to rise – the composite real estate index rose 10% year-on-year – Estonia remains an attractive place for real estate investments. Recent changes, further digitizing the transactions, are making it easier than ever for foreign investors.

Belarus has never been in the news as often as in 2020, which might serve as evidence that the country is currently facing challenging times. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst and revealed problems in the still widely unreformed Belarusian economy, while the political crisis hit the country hard. With the economy slowing down, demand for commercial real estate has dropped, and investors have put most of their plans on hold and have been monitoring the situation carefully, awaiting further developments.

The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia abolished “social ownership” in 1990 and introduced a universal type of ownership – private ownership. Legislation that followed the introduction of the Croatian Constitution specified how social companies were to be transformed into private companies. To establish private ownership over companies undergoing this transformation, the companies had to appraise the property used in their share capital. However, land that was used by said companies that was located in the zones for tourism-related purposes near the Adriatic coast (which we will refer to as the “tourist land”) was often not appraised in its entirety towards share capitals, as the intention was for it to become the property of the state for developing Croatian tourism strategies. Therefore, social companies performing tourism-related activities (e.g., hotels and camps) often appraised only buildings, while the land on which the activities were also performed was left un-appraised, yet continued to be used without compensating the real owner – the state.

Last summer, Romania’s Parliament adopted the controversial Law 175/2020 for the amendment and completion of Law 17/2014 on certain measures to regulate the sale of agricultural lands located outside the built-up area and to amend Law 268/2001 on the commercial companies’ privatization that hold in administration lands of public and private property of the State with agricultural destination and the establishment of the State Domains Agency.

Green and energy-efficient construction made its shy debut on the Serbian market almost a decade ago. Although various attempts were made to promote these green investments by creating a demand on the market, the results were moderate.