With 2.32 million sqm of industrial and logistics space under construction, Poland is the top European market for development activity, says the latest quarterly report from BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland.

Only 31,000 sqm of new supply was delivered through two projects during the three months to March 2024, bringing the combined office stock of Poland’s eight largest regional cities to 6.7 million sqm at the end of the first quarter, say BNP Paribas Real Estate experts. The new completions were Echo Investment’s Brain Park C (13,000 sqm) in Kraków, which is the second largest office market in Poland after Warsaw, and Cavatina Holding’s Quorum Office Park A (18,000 sqm) in Wrocław – the third biggest.

BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland presented a summary of the opening months of 2024 in the Polish capital. The Warsaw office market is evolving as office availability has been shrinking considerably in recent years. The first quarter of 2024 saw a slower pace of service charge growth, longer leases and the refurbishment of obsolete office stock.

Retail parks continue to attract strong investor interest and remain the most popular retail format on the development market. Meanwhile, new brands are entering the Polish retail market, which is also seeing the rise of AI-powered solutions, say BNP Paribas Real Estate experts in their latest report. 

Demand and supply slowed during the last quarter but remained relatively strong, reveals the latest report from BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland. Both vacancy and rental rates edged up by the end of 2023. Looking ahead, urban warehouses and built-to-suit projects will increase in popularity.

According to experts from BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland, Poland’s economic outlook remains stable but the global geopolitical situation and high interest rates across Europe continue to hamper a quick rebound in commercial property trading and large-scale transactions. Last year’s results confirmed a fall in liquidity for the CRE sector in Poland.

According to the latest quarterly report by BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland, the closing months of last year saw heightened development activity and many retailer debuts on the Polish retail market. Retail parks accounted for 80% of the new retail floor space supply.

Although the office development pipeline in Poland’s eight largest regional city markets is clearly shrinking, it is still above that for Warsaw, says BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland in its laterst report. Another notable development of the last quarter of 2023 was that the overall regional vacancy rate hit an all-time high by the end of December.

The volume of vacant office space in Warsaw is shrinking as the number of office buildings under construction and delivered to the market is low and occupier demand remains stable, reveals BNP Real Estate Poland in its quarterly report. Meanwhile, older office buildings are undergoing refurbishment as approximately 70% of existing stock is energy inefficient.

How long will the cooling off in the investment market last? What are the main factors currently shaping demand? Which projects will banks lend money for today? In an interview with Property Forum, BNP Paribas Real Estate experts Małgorzata Fibakiewicz and Tomasz Arent summarised the current situation in the retail and warehouse sectors in Poland.