Regional cities are burgeoning and seeing record-high office supply levels. What was the situation on Poland’s regional markets like in 2018?
Piotr Skuza, a regional manager, Savills office agency: 2018 was a record-breaking year in terms of new office supply in regional cities. In 2018, the overall office supply in Poland’s eight business regions, excluding Warsaw, climbed to more than 512,000 sq m and there was another 940,000 sq m under construction at the end of last year.
At the end of December 2018, total office stock in Poland’s core regional cities (Krakow, Wrocław, Tricity, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Lublin and Szczecin) reached 4.9 million sq m. Office developers are stepping up their activity, driven among other things by the growing employment in the BPO/SSC sector, which -according to ABSL’s data - currently employs nearly 279,000 people. Growth in employment in this sector continues unabated, registering an annual rate of approximately 30% and fuelling further demand for office space. Another strong sector is IT, which dominated on the regional markets in 2018, accounting for 34% of all office lease transactions.
In addition to Krakow and Wrocław, other cities are also seeing substantial increases in new office supply. Which regional cities are likely to grow the fastest in the near future?
Krakow and Wrocław are indisputably the largest regional city office markets with 1.26 million sq m and 1.05 million sq m of office space, respectively. The two cities also recorded the highest supply levels in 2018: 155,200 sq m in Krakow and 146,600 sq m in Wrocław, and the largest volumes of space under construction: 247,000 sq m and 222,000 sq m, respectively. The next biggest markets are Tricity (775,000 sq m) and Katowice (519,300 sq m), followed by Katowice-sized Poznań (479,100 sq m) and Łódź (468,900 sq m). Of the eight regional cities, the two smallest markets are Lublin (194,300 sq m) and Szczecin (159,400 sq m).
Besides Krakow and Wrocław, Tricity has the strongest development pipeline of nearly 145,000 sq m. The largest projects currently underway and expected to be delivered in the near future include Alchemia IV Neon, developed by Torus, Olivia Prime B (another office building of the Olivia Business Center) and Wave, the first office project of Skanska Property Poland in Tricity.
At the end of 2018, there was nearly 110,000 sq m under construction in Poznań. The biggest projects in the pipeline comprised the second phase of Business Garden Poznań, completed in March 2019 (45,000 sq m, Vastint) and Nowy Rynek A and B (approx. 35,000 sq m, Skanska), the latter now fully let following two large pre-leases. For Poznań, 2018 was not a peak year in terms of supply growth. Office supply barely topped 21,000 sq m delivered across three schemes: Pixel IV and V, Palacza Office and Garbary 67, a revitalised historic office building. Despite this, Poznań retains its strong position on the office map of Poland.
Source: Savills
The first quarter of 2019 brought personnel changes in the Economic Development and International Cooperation Office in the City of Lodz Office. Adam Pustelnik, the former Office Director, has decided to continue his career in the private sector — namely in the real estate sector, where he will continue to undertake a number of actions aimed at promoting the investment attractiveness of Lodz. However, Adam Pustelnik has not said his last word in the office yet and, as it was in previous years, will continue to act as an advisor to Mayor Hanna Zdanowska in the field of foreign investments.
The latest JLL survey reveals an optimistic year ahead for real estate investment in Europe, with Living predicted to achieve 30% growth this year. This upward trend has been seen in Poland as well
The first building of the Face2Face Business Campus office complex in Katowice is reaching its target height, and 93% of its space is already leased or under advanced negotiations with potential tenants. Works on the foundations of the second, higher office building are well underway. The financing of this investment is provided by Bank Pekao.
Global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield was appointed property manager of Horizon Plaza in Warsaw. In addition, Cushman & Wakefield delivers project commercialization services for the owner of the building.
In recent years Lublin enjoys an increased interest of foreign investors, in particular those representing city's priority sectors, including business services, biotechnology, machinery and automotive.
Warsaw’s Służewiec, one of Poland’s largest business districts, has been going through a metamorphosis for some time. Real estate advisory firm Savills has looked at current and planned changes in this area, including vacancy rates at older and newer office buildings, a wave of refurbishments sweeping through half of buildings aged at least ten, infrastructure improvements, as well as hotel and residential developments.
Sagittarius Business House, an office building in Sucha Street in Wrocław, has received the BREEAM International New Construction certificate with an Excellent rating. It excelled mainly in transport, energy and water consumption, and waste management. An independent BREEAM audit of the building was conducted by WSP Polska Sp. z o.o. Global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield is the property manager on behalf of German-based Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate, the owner of the complex.
Sagittarius Business House is a Class A office building with a total usable area of more than 25,000 sqm. It is located in the immediate vicinity of Wrocław Główny railway station and close to the city center.
“Receiving the BREEAM International New Construction certificate with an Excellent rating is confirmation that the building under Cushman & Wakefield’s management boasts the highest technical standards and green technological solutions that have a positive effect on the user’s comfort,” said Lena Januszko, Property Manager, EMEA Asset Services, Cushman & Wakefield.
Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate is one of Germany’s leading managers of real estate funds in Germany and Europe. It provides bespoke investment solutions for institutional clients and property management services.
"We are pleased to report that our investment asset Sagittarius Business House in Wrocław was awarded the BREEAM Excellent standard”, said Matthias Brodeßer, Head of Transaction Management International, Warburg-HIH Invest. “It shows that the Poland portfolio of WHIH maintains a very high sustainability level and is certified accordingly."
Source: Cushman & Wakefield
We use cookies to optimise site functionality and give you the best possible experience.
This site uses cookies to store information on your computer.
Some of these cookies are essential, while others help us to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.
Accept Recommended Settings
Necessary Cookies
Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as page navigation and access to secure areas. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.
Analytics
Analytical cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage.
Marketing
We use marketing cookies to help us improve the relevancy of advertising campaigns you receive.
Social Sharing Cookies
We use some social sharing plugins, to allow you to share certain pages of our website on social media.
