After the first three quarters of 2017 the warehouse market continues to be the fastest and most dynamically growing commercial property sector in Poland. According to the latest report by BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland, since the beginning of the year the total volume of modern warehouse space has increased by 13.6%. Q3 2017 was dominated by Szczecin with the completion and delivery of the country’s largest warehouse scheme: Panattoni BTS Amazon Szczecin, with the area in excess of 161,000 sqm.
Impressive results
The first nine months of this year saw the completion of schemes with the record area of more than 1.7 million sqm, with more than a half (54%) delivered in Q3. The new schemes account for nearly 130% of the space delivered over the entire last year. The highest volume of space in Q3 – behind Szczecin (293,400 sqm) – was delivered in Warsaw II zone (239,500 sqm). Szczecin moved into the lead following completion of the country’s largest warehouse scheme in terms of the area: Panattoni BTS Amazon Szczecin (161,000 sqm) and Goodman BTS Zalando Szczecin (130,000 sqm).
“Q3 2017 was dominated by the Szczecin region. Delivery to the market of two large-scale schemes, which included Poland’s largest warehouse scheme, has discernibly strengthened the region’s position. The Szczecin cluster is strategically located in direct proximity to the German border and enjoys the availability of qualified workforce, hence this region captures interest through a large number of foreign players. I am certain that the Polish warehouse market will win over an even larger number of foreign businesses as in the past it more than once proved that it is able to skilfully find balance between relatively low rents and the high standard of warehouse space offered and operations carried out,” says Katarzyna Pyś-Fabiańczyk, Head of Industrial & Logistics Department at BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland.
Continued interest from investors
Despite the delivery of a record volume of space interest in the warehouse sector form of investors is not flagging. There is still more than one million sqm of space under construction at the moment. The largest schemes are Panattoni BTS Amazon Sosnowiec (135,000 sqm), BTS BSH (79,000 sqm) and the next phase of the P3 Piotrków complex (61,000 sqm). We are witnessing undiminished interest in logistics space from e-commerce businesses which are one of the main drivers for the sector.
“The modern warehouse market is growing extremely rapidly. The pace of growth is surprisingly high, and there are record results achieved from one quarter to another. Only between July and the end of September 2017 the volume of space delivered resulted in the sector’s growth by 7.9%. The completion of a record number of new schemes did not lead to an increase in the vacancy rate, where in fact quite the opposite was observed. The vacancy rated dropped by 0.5 p.p. as compared to the value recorded at the end of 2016 and currently stands at 5.6%. The results confirm that there is continuously high demand for industrial space and that build-to-suit projects represent an effective way of reducing the share of vacant space in warehouse schemes,” says Szymon Dołęga, Senior Consultant, Research and Consultancy at BNP Paribas Real Estate.
Rents remain stable
The record supply of warehouse space is balanced out by the above-average demand, which makes it possible for most schemes to retain their existing rents. The highest rents are consistently to be found in warehouses located within Warsaw’s boundaries, where since the beginning of the year they have increased by an average 5-10% for warehouses in prime locations. On the other hand, central Poland is recording the lowest rents amongst all clusters, which is the result of domination of large logistics parks in the region.
