Critical conditions

Money does not grow on trees. Well, maybe sometimes it does – but in small amounts and not enough to build a shopping centre. We are left with falling back on traditional sources of financing – and at the moment these are rather unyielding. However, there should be enough money around for good projects. At least so the bankers are telling usEmil GóreckiIt is much more common in 2010 to hear of properties being financed or refinanced, such as shopping centres and retail parks, than it was a year ago. Moreover, the heads of companies in the sector and the banks are now making re-assuring noises that there will be a few more transactions of this kind before the end of the year.It was July 2009. The banks tentatively started to unlock safes that had remained firmly shut since the onset of the credit crunch. But the main beneficiaries of the banks’ re-found largesse were office buildings. Hungarian developer TriGranit received a loan of EUR 150 mln for the construction of