Annual total leasing activity on the Budapest industrial property market equated to 353,220 sq m in 2015, which was just slightly (5.5%) below the 2014 record volume. The vacancy rate declined 5 percentage points during the year, bottoming out at 10.6% at the end of 2015.
Annual total leasing activity on the Budapest industrial property market equated to 353,220 sq m in 2015, which was just slightly (5.5%) below the 2014 record volume. The vacancy rate declined 5 percentage points during the year, bottoming out at 10.6% at the end of 2015.
In the fourth quarter of 2015 the modern industrial stock in Budapest, and its surroundings, expanded by 39,340 sq m to stand at 1,881,650 sq m. This increase comprised of firstly, a 5,000 sq m new development for Ekol Logistics in the Budapest Dock, and secondly, a 34,340 sq m fully occupied, existing warehouse, which was purchased by the Czech CTP Group, and therefore added to the industrial stock figures. These two assets were the only additions to the stock in the entire of 2015.
Total leasing activity amounted to 81,190 sq m in Q4 2015, which is more than 30% higher than the volume registered in Q3 2015. Roughly 66% of this space was generated by renewals, new leases represented 22% and expansions 12%. No pre-leases, or new built-to-suit agreements, were registered in the Q4 2015.
The annual total leasing activity equated to 353,220 sq m, which was just slightly (5.5%) below the 2014 record volume.
In Q4 2015, 16 industrial transactions were registered out of which three exceeded 10,000 sq m. Due to the large amount of large transactions which were concluded, the average deal size extended to 5,075 sq m, being more than twice the size of the average deal size registered in the Q3 2015. Approximately 97% of the leasing activity was recorded in logistics parks where the average deal size was 6,065 sq m. The average deal size in city logistics schemes equated to 2,330 sq m.
The quarter’s largest transactions were lease renewals, out of which the most significant is the 24,815 sq m in renewal at ProLogis Park Budapest Sziget. The largest new deal was signed in Rozália Park on 9,380 sq m.
The vacancy rate declined 1.7 percentage points q-o-q and 5 percentage points y-o-y bottoming out at 10.6% at the end of 2015. The last time the vacancy was this low was in 2007.
The impressive improvement of the occupied stock was due to the positive quarterly net absorption volumes throughout the year. The strongest net absorption was recorded in Q4 2015 with 66,265 sq m, while the annual volume equated to 130,130 sq m, reflecting an 8% growth on the 2014 annual volume (120,265 sq m).
The Budapest Research Forum (BRF) comprises of CBRE, Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield, Eston International, JLL and Robertson Hungary.
