Only half of developing came true in 2008

According to property consultancy ESTON International there was no handover of new retail properties in Budapest in 2008, and several developers experiencing financial trouble delayed or even stopped projects.

 At the beginning of 2008, developers had planned to put 300,000 square meters
of retail space onto the market, but there are now just 160,000 sq. m. under
construction, ESTON said.

Several shopping centre were inaugurated in other Hungarian
cities in 2008, among them the Agria Park in Eger, developed by WING, and the
Forum Debrecen shopping centre.

The construction of the Árkád in Szeged, which, with 40,000
sq.m. of gross leasable area, aims to become the largest shopping centre in Hungary
outside of Budapest, was halted, ESTON said, citing unofficial information.