Warburg-HIH Invest buys White House in Budapest

Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate has acquired an office building, The White House, in Budapest on behalf of an open-ended special AIF of an institutional investor.

The LEED Platinum certified new office building, developed by the GTC Group, was completed in summer of 2018 and has a gross lettable area of 22,300 square metres.

The property is fully occupied, the main tenants being investment fund manager BlackRock, Jaguar Land Rover and the Dutch co-working provider Spaces. The average lease term is 8.2 years. It was agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

“With this acquisition, we transacted a property investment that is sustainable in every way,” said Matthias Brodesser, Head of Transaction Management International at Warburg-HIH Invest.

“Since 2010, Hungary’s economic output has grown at a stable annual rate of 2.25 percent while wage increases combine with virtually full employment. In addition to the positive economic aspects, the high environmental compatibility of the property has been verified by its LEED certification,” he added.

The GTC White House is located in the office submarket along the Váci Ut corridor in the 13th district of the Hungarian capital.

“Due to its background as a 20th-century industrial centre and the convenient transport links to the inner city, the area has developed into a preferred location for office tenants. Average office rents in this area, which is marked by brisk building activity and robust take-up, are growing by 2.8 percent annually,” explained Sebastian Pende, Real Estate Manager at Warburg-HIH Invest Austria.