In Q1 2018, Warsaw’s vacancy rate fell to its lowest in five years while absorption amounted to 45,000 sqm, down by nearly 30% on the average observed over the last five years, according to Cresa.

Cushman & Wakefield has published a summary of the first quarter of 2018 on Poland’s regional office markets. Following the record-breaking performance in 2017, the total office stock of regional cities rose by 3% q/q by the end of Q1 2018 to 4.5 million sqm. The average vacancy rate for the regional markets was down 0.6 p.p. at 9.3%. The largest concentration of development activity is in Wrocław and Krakow.

LC Corp Group has chosen Knight Frank to be the property manager of Retro Office House in Wrocław. Completed at the end of March, the office building offers a leasable area of 20,700 sqm and has already been rented out almost in its entirety.

The key catalyst behind the further growth of Poland’s regional office markets is the BSS sector, which is increasingly expanding into smaller cities as tenants continue looking for attractive alternatives outside Warsaw. This is benefiting such locations as Krakow, Wrocław and Tricity and all the regional markets are seeing multiple modern office projects underway in response to the growing occupier demand.

Siemens CR and CPI PG announced that they signed an agreement to extend the lease and complete a total renovation of City West office buildings in Prague - Stodůlky, where Siemens CR headquarters have been located since 2010. The contract has been extended until 2027 and will undergo extensive modernisation of offices, common areas, parking spaces and specific outdoor areas. The common goal is to improve and beautify the employee work environment, reflecting Siemens' development needs within its headquarters in the Czech Republic.

On May 29th, 2018, Budapest’s Ericsson House was officially handed over. This new building, developed by Wing, features not only offices but also one of the Swedish company’s largest European Research & Development centres. The 24,000 sqm property, built in the first phase of the development project of the Hungarian Nobel-Prize Winners’ R&D Park, satisfies both the needs of today and tomorrow due to its cutting-edge technology and execution. As shown by its LEED Gold certification it upholds the highest standards of environmental consciousness. The new HQ will house 1800 workers. Now, with the handover of the Ericsson House, the development of the adjacent site may commence as the second phase of the project.

Nordea, Infosys, Fujitsu and Harman opened offices in Łódź a long time ago. Other firms are now following in their footsteps. Commerz Systems recently announced its entry into the Łódź market, says Marta Pyziak, Head of the Łódź Office of Cresa Poland.

Whilst Prague 4 is the largest market, over the next two years, most of the new supply will be delivered to Prague 8. In perspective, it could overtake Prague 1 by market share and become the third largest office submarket in the capital. In 2018 and 2019, almost 27% of new offices that are currently under construction will be completed in Prague 8. The largest of the planned projects is Palmovka Open Park, thanks to which office space in Prague 8 will expand by almost 25,000 sqm at the end of Q2 2018. Regarding the intensity of construction, Prague 4 is in second place with 22% of the offices under construction. The third place belongs to Prague 5, where 19% of new construction will be completed.

In terms of size, Łódź is currently the sixth largest regional office market in Poland. Investors are attracted by the city's extensive pool of specialists and an increasingly strong business brand. Experts from JLL indicate that the increasing maturity of the Łódź office market is contributing to the development of state-of-the-art office clusters in the city.

Nearly 55% of last year’s supply of new offices in Budapest came in the form of two schemes: Timpuri Noi Square I & II (33 000 sqm) and The Bridge (36 000 sqm). It is thanks to these developments that the total office stock in Romania’s capital reached the threshold of approx. 3.2 million sqm. BNP Paribas Real estate’s analysis highlights that tenant expectations in respect of high-quality space made developers focus mainly on supplying Class A office buildings to the market.