In Q1 2017 a total of 970,000 sqm was leased on the warehouse market in Poland, 42% more than in Q1 2016. Developers put into operation 475,000 sqm and over 1.4 million sqm are under construction. Results for the first quarter of 2017 allow optimistic forecasts for the coming months according to AXI IMMO’s latest report.

Panattoni Europe is building a production facility for Reuss Seifert, German-based supplier of components for the construction industry. The facility featuring in excess of 30,000 sqm is going up in Nowa Sól, at the Kostrzyn-Słubice Special Economic Zone. The contract was mediated by CBRE.

P3 has celebrated the raising of the last pillar of a new, 31,904 sqm warehouse at P3 Poznań park in Poland’s rapidly developing Gądki logistics area. One-third of the building - 10,000 sqm - will be occupied by British American Tobacco Polska. The BAT space, which will be commissioned in August 2017, is being designed to meet the company’s specific needs. The remaining space is being built on speculative basis.

Helaba and pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, acting as co-arrangers, are providing a €177 million facility to developer and investor CTP for the refinancing of CTPark Bor, one of the Czech Republic's largest logistic parks. The loan is being financed in a club deal, with each partner providing 50% of the facility and Helaba acting as agent. The transaction closed in April 2017 and has a term of seven years. 

Central European industrial markets have a bright future ahead of them but regulatory issues and labour shortage can pose a threat to further growth in many countries. The speakers of the first ever Prague Property Summit analysed the potential of the market from a European perspective.

CTP signed several new leases in Hungary in the first quarter of 2017 which means that construction is now underway in four different locations in the Transdanubia region. The real estate developer, present in Hungary since early 2016, now manages an industrial property portfolio of about 300,000 sqm. 

Net take-up on the Czech industrial market in Q1 2017 totalled 238,800 sqm, representing a yearly increase of 13%. The vacancy rate reached 4.7%, having decreased marginally by 4 bps since Q4 2016. The Industrial Research Forum announced the final Industrial Market figures for Q1 2017. 

Prologis announced the completion of a 42,170 square metre build-to-suit (BTS) facility for long-term customer Agata at Prologis Park Piotrków II. 

Colliers International has announced the completion of its advisory role in helping Chassix, a global automotive supplier of precision casting and machining solutions, to establish a greenfield plant in the metropolis of the Moravian-Silesian region of the Czech Republic. 

The vacancy rate on the Budapest industrial market declined 2.2 percentage points q-o-q, reaching a record low of 5.9% at the end of Q1 2017. The Budapest Research Forum published its quarterly industrial market analysis.