It shows that there can be substantial differences between the real estate markets of countries that may border each other geographically. Even if the term 'Eastern Central Europe' admittedly sounds a little ungainly, international investors have made a place for this corner of the world in their current investment strategies:

• Austria has high per capita income, giving it a highly mature real estate market in all retail subsegments.
• Poland has a population of 38 million, making it by far the biggest and most dynamic market, in which the shopping centre segment is highly developed down to small cities while high street retail and retail parks are still in their infancy.
• The Czech Republic is midway between these markets with its well developed retail park segment, shopping centres and its highly frequented Prague high streets.
• Hungary's retail real estate market has been moving against the trend in recent years owing to its country's economic problems, and has been posting declines in rents for some time.