In a video interview recorded at CEE Property Forum 2025 in Vienna, Maarten Otte, Head of Investor Relations at CTP, shares his outlook for the year ahead. He explains why tenant demand remains strong, highlights the structural drivers behind logistics growth and reflects on market liquidity, investor activity and CTP’s expansion plans beyond Central and Eastern Europe.
What are your expectations regarding logistics for the year ahead? Are you more on the optimistic or pessimistic side?
We are more optimistic, and that comes back to what our tenants want. If we look at the first three quarters of 2025, we saw more deals being signed — around 6% more in terms of square metres — and also higher rents, with rents increasing by about 6%.
If tenants want more space and are willing to sign at higher rents, it means there are structural underlying demand drivers. There are a few key themes behind this. One is nearshoring, with global manufacturers rethinking their supply chains and producing in Europe for Europe. Central and Eastern Europe benefits in particular from lower labour costs, making it an attractive production location. We call this business-smart.
The second driver is the growth of e-commerce, driven by domestic consumption as the middle class continues to develop across Central and Eastern Europe, leading to higher spending. We’ve signed large deals with retailers such as Tesco in Hungary, H&M in Romania and LPP in Romania, all expanding across the region.
The third driver is the professionalisation of supply chains. Central and Eastern Europe is still undersupplied in terms of industrial and logistics space per capita — it’s roughly half of what we see in Western European markets. As a result, outsourcing to third-party logistics providers continues.
On top of that, there are elements such as defence. In Germany, for example, we already have some defence-related standards within our portfolio. As investment in defence increases, there is not only direct spending but also indirect demand, as defence requires a wide range of supporting elements such as food, clothing and equipment. This translates into additional storage requirements.
Overall, when we look at tenant demand, we see healthy underlying drivers. That’s why in 2026 we expect to continue growing at roughly the same pace as this year. As a developer, CTP typically delivers between 10% and 15% of new space per year.
Do you see enough demand from investors for your spaces? Is there enough liquidity in the market?
At CTP, we don’t sell. We develop for our own portfolio, which is now close to €18 billion. We mainly develop the next buildings within our existing business parks, largely for existing clients. Around two-thirds of all new deals are with existing clients who are expanding, and about 80% of this takes place in existing parks. As a result, we are not dependent on market liquidity.
That said, if you look at the transaction market more broadly, you can see it coming back, mainly driven by stabilising financing conditions. We’ve seen large private equity players returning to the CEE market — for example, Blackstone acquiring assets in the Czech Republic and Slovakia at the end of last year.
Over time, these markets have matured. Countries like the Czech Republic and Poland are much more mature today than they were 10 or 15 years ago. The cycle will always move in waves, but at the moment, we do see transaction markets recovering.
Are you looking at new countries where you haven’t been present so far?
Not within the CEE region, but we are looking at other markets in Europe. This includes Italy and other Western European markets. At the same time, we are also exploring opportunities to expand in Asia.
