Mr O'Sullivan said that the real-estate investment turnover in central and eastern Europe (CEE) was EUR 2.5bn in 2009, 3.5pc of that in the entire continent last year, noting that the four countries of the Visegrad Group -- Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary -- generated 55pc of the real-estate investment turnover in the CEE region last year, up from 35pc in 2008.

    Mr O'Sullivan remarked that the expected yield on real-estate investments was 12p in Moscow at the end last year, compared to 9.5pc in Bucharest, 8pc in Budapest, 7.5pc in Bratislava, 7pc in Prague and 6.8pc in Warsaw. The expected yield within the EU-15 was 6pc.

    CBRE Chief Analyst Gábor Borbely said that rental fees had fallen 10pc in Budapest, Prague, Bratislava and Bucharest after the onset of the economic crisis, plummeting 35pc in Warsaw and 50pc in Moscow since then.

    Mr Borbely predicted that the vacancy rate for real-estate investments would decline from its current rate of above 20pc to 18pc by the end of the year, adding that equilibrium between supply and demand would likely emerge in Prague and Warsaw sooner than it would in Budapest.