As development activity has slowed down, the focus is shifting to managing the existing stock across the whole commercial real estate market. Owners and other stakeholders have to adapt rapidly to serve changing demand from occupiers, said Benjamin Perez Ellischewitz MRICS, Principal at Avison Young in Hungary, while answering Property Forum’s questions at Mipim in Cannes.

The retail park in Przeworsk (Rock Park), which had its grand opening at the beginning of February this year, is undergoing a change in ownership after just a month of operation. The seller is RockCapital, and the buyer is ME Invest, a company owned by TERG S.A., the owner of the Media Expert chain. The Avison Young investment team represented the seller in the transaction process. The price has not been disclosed.

Real estate advisory firm Avison Young announced the promotion of Michał Ćwikliński as Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Regional Managing Director, effective immediately. In this newly created role, Ćwikliński will work closely with Avison Young’s Country Management teams to oversee and assist business development, sales management, and strategic initiatives across the EMEA region.

Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, the Polish investment market has consistently navigated its repercussions, only to face additional challenges from the economic turbulence resulting from the war in Ukraine, rising interest rates or inflation. Despite maintaining stable investment volumes for three tough years, 2023 witnessed an inevitable slowdown, says Avison Young.

The decline in investment volume, which has been recorded this year in all sectors of the commercial real estate market in Poland, is particularly visible in the office segment. Despite the relative recovery that was observed at the end of the summer, the total value of the transaction volume recorded in Q1-Q3 2023, amounted to only ca. €1.7 billion, with merely ca. €267 million allocated in office assets. However, in this time of slowdown, there is also room for success. Avison Young's investment team can boast of approximately one-third of completed transactions in this sector - both in terms of volume and number of transactions.

How to invest in challenging times? How to diversify one’s investment portfolio to minimize risk? What properties are investors allocating their capital in nowadays? Marcin Purgal, Senior Director, Investment and Paulina Brzeszkiewicz-Kuczyńska, Research and Data Manager at Avison Young Poland answered these questions and many others.

In the first half of the year, there was a sharp decline in the volume of real estate investments in Poland. Despite the market recovery at the end of summer, the total volume in Q1-Q3 2023 amounted to only €1.7 billion. After the first half of the year with few portfolio transactions, in the third quarter, there were already four - in the warehouse and retail sectors, but none of them exceeded the value of €100 million. Interestingly, despite the turmoil, the Polish investment market welcomed 3 new players this year. Avison Young Poland summarizes the property investment market in Poland in Q3 2023

Octava Property Trust has sold a development plot for an SBU warehouse project to an Austrian investor. According to real estate advisory firm Savills, engaged in the search for investors in partnership with Avison Young, Warsaw is the fastest-growing warehouse market in Poland. 

Octava has sold the Obrzeżna Center office building in Warsaw to a Polish investor. The price has not been disclosed. Avison Young and Savills jointly represented the seller.

Duda Development has sold a Silesian retail park portfolio to a private investor. Avison Young represented the purchaser. The price has not been disclosed.