As core sectors mature, the search for growth moves elsewhere

Moderator Tomasz Stasiak, Co-Managing Partner at Wolf Theiss Poland, steered the conversation toward strategy, regulation, capital flows, and financing, highlighting how legislative and macroeconomic changes are reshaping risk, liquidity, and product design. The discussion revealed a market with strong fundamentals but still-limited institutional depth, especially for PRS, and a data centre segment where power, permitting, and financing remain critical bottlenecks.

Shay Baruch, CEO of LivUp, presented a contrarian commitment to residential PRS at a time when many market participants are gravitating toward commercial PRS. He described a strategy focused on building a diversified, quality-driven rental portfolio with distinct niches, including premium assets, while maintaining internal synergies with a sister development company. Baruch stressed that residential PRS remains a relatively “odd” asset class from a legal and regulatory standpoint, so LivUp hedges risk through flexible zoning (including service zoning) and by keeping future privatisation or alternative exit routes in mind. He also noted the potential impact of tighter regulation on short-term rentals, which may reshape competition between institutional players and private landlords.

Johannes Bauer, Board Member and Shareholder at S+B Gruppe, outlined a long-standing data centre strategy alongside broader residential ambitions. S+B has been developing hyperscale data centres since 2010 across several CEE markets, and Bauer emphasised that power availability, complex environmental permitting, and increasingly demanding energy regulation are now decisive project filters. He highlighted financing as a major hurdle, given the high capital intensity and banks’ limited familiarity with the asset class, which often leads to higher equity requirements. While the company is exploring further data centre and PRS opportunities around Warsaw, Bauer underscored that realistic demand and proximity to key hubs remain essential, despite market buzz about gigawatt-scale projects.

Maciej Piotrowicz, Head of Real Estate Poland at Urban Partners, positioned his firm’s “living” strategy—PRS, co-living, and prospective student housing—as a risk-adjusted bet grounded in Nordic and German experience. In Poland, Urban Partners focuses on Warsaw and a handful of key regional cities, combining long-stay and short-stay products, particularly within co-living schemes, to remain flexible in the face of regulatory and demand shifts. Piotrowicz argued that exit risk does not change the fundamental attractiveness of the sector but requires an appropriate risk premium and realistic assumptions on market liquidity. He also pointed to growing interest from extended-stay and aparthotel operators seeking long-term leases and from non-euro investors (Nordic and Benelux capital) who may be more comfortable with currency risk than traditional German core buyers.

Jan-Hendrik Walloch, Managing Director, Investment, at ParkProperty Europe, explained how his firm pivoted away from retail development into residential and hotels, initially with a strong conviction about PRS and build-to-rent in Poland. In practice, however, the combination of very strong build-to-sell economics and a thin pool of core buyers willing to hold large rental portfolios has pushed the company to prioritise build-to-sell strategies for now. Walloch underlined that institutional investors value long, stable leases and low churn because frequent tenant turnover increases capex and undermines the perceived quality of the institutional product. He also noted that zloty-denominated rents and FX risk remain a significant obstacle for traditional Western European core capital, even though higher-yield and development-focused investors are somewhat less constrained.