The vacancy rate at the end of Q1 2024 reached 8.9% in Greater Budapest, representing a 0.3 percentage points increase quarter-on-quarter, while an increase of 3 percentage points was registered year-on-year, the Budapest Research Forum reports.
At the end of the quarter, a total of 313,705 sqm of logistics space was vacant in Greater Budapest, while vacant areas outside Budapest reached 103,085 sqm, corresponding to a vacancy rate of 6.5%. The national countrywide vacancy rate stood at 8.2% as of Q1 2024.
In Q1 2024, no new completion was registered in Greater Budapest. In Regional Hungary, one new scheme was registered with an industrial space of 5,650 sqm in Debrecen.
The total modern industrial stock in Hungary amounted to 5,103,595 sqm at the end of Q1 2024. Greater Budapest reached 3,522,155 sqm, while the stock of Regional Hungary added up to 1,581,440 sqm. BRF carried out its annual size correction and stock revision therefore the industrial stock in Greater Budapest saw a notable increase of 34,330 sqm, attributed to the addition of new buildings to the existing stock, while the size of the regional stock decreased by 21,310 sqm due to schemes deleted from the regional stock.
Total demand in Greater Budapest amounted to 90,875 sqm in Q1 2024, indicating a decline of 15% year-on-year. In Q1, take-up excluding renewals reached 78,275 sqm, representing a 35% year-on-year growth.
In Greater Budapest, new leases accounted for 45% of the total leasing activity in Q1 2024, while pre-leases took up 25%. Expansions represented 16% of the total leasing activity. Contrary to the high results of previous quarters, the ratio of lease renewals decreased, accounting for only 14% of the total leasing activity.
In the first quarter of 2024, 23 leasing transactions were registered in Greater Budapest, with an average transaction size of 3,950 sqm. The number of transactions and average deal size are consistent with those recorded in the first quarter of 2023. Three of the transactions registered in Q1 2024, exceeded the size limit of 10,000 sqm. The majority of leases continued to be concluded in big-box logistics parks, while in city logistics parks agreements have remained moderate.
The largest contracts of the first quarter were signed for 16,000 sqm. In Regional Hungary, Raben signed a pre-lease agreement for 16,000 sqm in InPark Tatabánya, additionally in Greater Budapest the largest transaction was concluded in CTPark Budapest West for an industrial space of 16,000 sqm.
In Q1, corrected net absorption, which takes into consideration stock size changes and stock revision, amounted to -15,145 sqm in Greater Budapest, while in Regional Hungary it reached -12,285 sqm.
