Real Estate Capital Flows and Transitional Economies

Foreign real estate capital was a major source of financing domestic property market office construction in Central Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.  During the 1990s, over 800 office buildings were either newly constructed or refurbished in Budapest, Prague and Warsaw.  The primary focus of this analysis is explaining the spatial construction and redevelopment patterns of the post-1989 office buildings in these cities.  Secondarily, we analyze the correlation of foreign direct investment flows to annual construction of office buildings.  We seek to explain the location of new or refurbished office buildings in the central business district (CBD) or in non-CBD locations in terms of the effect of time, size of property and other variables, and test whether there is a positive correlation relationship of foreign direct investment flows and new office construction or refurbishment. Integrating relevant foreign direct investment (FDI), economic geography and property theories in the research, the authors attempt to bridge existing gaps in the literature.