Romania's industrial and logistics market is currently benefitting from its best period in history, both in terms of supply and demand, with development being condensed in a number of large cities with access to at least one highway that facilitates the transport and distribution of goods in a shorter time and with lower costs to a larger number of customers.

Romanian developer Zacaria Group will invest €28 million in a business park in the city of Craiova. OTP Bank Romania will provide financing for the 53,000 sqm project.

JLL advised Metro in the process of consolidating its distribution centres into a one roof concept in the new project developed by WDP in the North area of Bucharest, Stefanesti. This is the largest transaction on the Romanian industrial market in this year.

The areas in northern Bucharest, such as Stefanestii de Jos and Chitila, have the potential to form a new logistics hub, according to Colliers International. Over 180,000 sqm of logistics space is to be delivered next year, as the West of the capital has become loaded in terms of the development of industrial and logistic spaces.

MLP Group has begun the construction of a warehousing facility in its logistics centre in Czeladź. The construction of the facility with an area of nearly 10,000 square meters is scheduled for completion in Q2 2019.

A recent report by CBRE and Panattoni Europe confirms a sustained positive outlook for the logistics market in Poland. The Logistics and Supply Chain Confidence Index in Poland stands at 57.4 pts (3.3 pts down from last year). Optimism is higher among logistics companies (64.1 pts) than among manufacturers and traders relying on logistics services (50.4 pts). What is more, as many as 8 out of 10 respondents expect to increase their revenues in the coming 12 months, and 6 out of 10 plan to increase headcount.

The vacancy rate slightly increased on the Budapest industrial market to 3.7%. At the end of the Q3 2018 a total of 76,240 sqm stood vacant, and there are only two existing schemes with more than 5,000 sqm of available warehouse space. The Budapest Research Forum published its quarterly industrial market analysis

Panattoni Europe announced a new warehouse and manufacturing project which provides for the construction of a hydraulic components factory for Voss Fluid featuring in excess of 10,000 sqm. The investment is situated at the Legnica Special Economic Zone (LSSE) and uses the BTO (build-to-own) formula. The transaction was mediated by JLL. Completion of construction works is anticipated in March 2019.

Transactions in the logistics sector have been dominating the Prague market this year. In the first half of 2018 alone, the take-up was 24% higher than in the full year 2017, precisely 226,600 sqm. During the same period, the overall gross take-up reached in Prague 408,000 sqm, showing an increase of 56 %. Besides the logistics sector, more than 90,000 sqm was taken by production and 76,000 sqm by distribution. The biggest new deal in Prague in the logistics sector was done by cargo-partner ČR, which signed a lease agreement for 12,450 sqm located in a stand-alone industrial building in the Logicor Prague Airport logistic park. The company will start operating from the new premises at the beginning of 2019. Cushman & Wakefield facilitated the lease of the premises.

Panattoni Europe has laid the cornerstone to mark the beginning of the construction of a dishwasher factory for BSH Sprzęt Gospodarstwa Domowego, dedicated to Industry 4.0. The facility, featuring close to 58,500 sqm, is being built in Łódź next to the Central European Logistics Hub and is the developer’s largest manufacturing project. Completion of construction works and handover of the facility to the investor is planned for the beginning of 2019, and first appliances will leave the factory in mid-2019.