News

Heritage protected Eiffel Palace – originally constructed in 1893 – was sold twice within the last three years, both times at the best yield in the Hungarian property market. The National Bank of Hungary (MNB) purchased the building directly from the developer (Horizon Development) three years ago in August 2014 at a price of €45.3M, with an approximate yield of 6.5%, and resold it in August 2017 to Luxembourg-based Corpus Sireo Real Estate investment fund for €53.8M, at a yield around 5%, generating an almost 20% profit on the deal.

As a result of the well-thought-out architectural concept and business model of the developer, the authentically restored and technologically perfected, elegant 125-year-old office building with a continuously enhancing value claimed its spot on the international investment map.

The former headquarters of Hungarian daily paper ‘Pesti Hírlap’ and Légrády (later Zrínyi) Printshop proved to be the best in Central and Eastern Europe, and even globally, in the categories of heritage restoration, sustainability, real estate development, architecture and general construction, collecting 18 awards in total between 2013 and 2015.

The office building was 100% leased to prestigious local and international companies with long-term contracts soon after its 2014 handover, a fact that contributed to its first divestment within the same year as a highly profitable, valuable investment product. After the second divestment transaction announced last week, it is safe to conclude that Eiffel Palace generated the highest possible yields of all times among Hungarian office buildings.

Attila Kovács MRICS, managing partner of Horizon Development, evaluated the uninterrupted professional and financial success of the project within the past three years: ‘The formerly widely publicized, highly politicized and non-professional claims of the building being sold in 2014 for a sum above market price are now completely refuted. It is the perfect financial confirmation and professional feedback that the National Bank of Hungary managed to re-divest our prestigious office development with such high profit levels within three years of the original purchase. The transaction also carries a strong message, reminding the Hungarian real estate market that Eiffel Palace is a true global success story from a property development perspective, as well as a stable, secure, valuable form of investment, run at maximum capacity.”