The first quarter of the year was another very demanding time for the regional office markets. They have been confronted with exactly the same challenges as Warsaw’s office market – increasing maintenance costs, higher rents’ perspective, more expensive and longer fit-outs as well as delayed construction processes. The future boon may be the emigration of Russian specialists from high-skilled technology industries, including IT, who fill in the talent pool in the regional cities, which are hubs for the IT Products and Services sector.

According to a new report published by Newmark Polska, the first quarter of 2022 was marked in Poland’s regional city office markets by high supply levels, stable demand and a shrinking volume of space under construction. With office availability remaining high in some cities, office tenants still have many options to choose from.

Real estate investor and fund manager, Cromwell Property Group acting on behalf of CEREIT, has leased 17,500 sqm of office space to two Santander Group businesses at the Business Garden Poznań in Poland.

The asset management arm of Hungarian developer Market Group has signed a €65 million loan agreement with Raiffeisen Bank to finance a huge mixed-use project in a prestigious district of Budapest, not far from the embankment of the river Danube. A Class A office complex and a boutique hotel offering 127 rooms will be completed by 2023. 

Companies in the IT&C sector had a share of 32% in Bucharest’s office lease market in Q1 and generated 93.6% of new leasing transactions in regional cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Timișoara and Sibiu.

The Prague office building Parkview currently owned by Deka Immobilien is now 100% leased. The nine-story building developed and finished in 2020 by Skanska in the Pankrác district will house the software company JetSoft and the research technology company Lucid, Skanska, the original developer of the building, announced today.

Yareal announced that it has signed a contract with a general contractor responsible for completing the final stages of its flagship office complex, LIXA. FineTech Construction will build two office buildings with a total area of 29,000 sqm near Daszyński Roundabout. So far, nearly 49,000 sqm of modern offices have already been developed here at LIXA, including the most recently commissioned building C, which will soon be ready to welcome its first tenants. 

Romanian developer Genesis Property will invest €50 million in the transformation of office complex Novo Park into YUNITY Park, a campus that will include co-working and co-living spaces. The project spanning seven buildings with a leasable area of 75,000 sqm will be completed in the first quarter of 2023. 

Prime rent in the first quarter of 2022 increased again and is in the range of €24.00-24.50 per sqm per month in the city centre. In addition to rents, rising construction prices are still reflected in offers of allowances for office build-outs or other incentives. The Prague Research Forum published the office market figures for Q1 2022.

MNK Partners has appointed real estate advisory firm Savills as property manager for its newly acquired office building NC3.