High retail space saturation will attract new tenants to Poland. It is a hallmark of a mature and stable market where retailers are able to make store turnover and expansion plans a lot more easily, says Szymon Łukasik, Head of Retail at Cresa Poland.

In mid-2018, Wrocław’s office stock reached 1.01 million sqm, which represented a 16% increase on the same period last year, according to Cresa. Eight new office buildings providing a total of 104,000 sqm were delivered to the market between January and June 2018. The largest office completions included Echo Investment’s 24,900 sqm Sagittarius, which was delivered in Q2, followed BZ WBK’s 17,000 sqm office building and Echo Investment’s 13,900 sqm West Link.

Despite the anticipated large wave of new office supply, the Łódź market is well-balanced. Rents hold firm and tenants continue to target office buildings in the city centre.

Office supply on the Tricity market keeps breaking new records with the average annual growth at 9% for the last five years. Tricity is currently Poland’s third-largest regional office market (excluding Warsaw) and continues to strengthen its position, according to Cresa’s report.

Krakow retains the crown as Poland’s largest regional office market as it saw its office stock rise by 17% in the past year to 1.16 million sqm, says real estate advisory firm Cresa in its latest report.

At the end of H1 2018, there was more than 2.13 million sqm of warehouse and industrial space under construction across Poland with Central Poland accounting for more than one-fourth of the development pipeline, according to Cresa. Despite the healthy supply, the vacancy rate will remain below 5% this year and is likely to edge down to approximately 4% next year on account of a base effect and the expected robust occupier demand.

Cresa, the world’s largest tenant-only commercial real estate firm, has opened an office in Krakow. Cresa already has five offices across Poland: in Warsaw, Wrocław, Tricity, Łódź and Krakow. Its Krakow office is located in High5ive.

A good location is the key to success in retail. It may, however, take some time before a suitable store is found for a brand entering the Polish market. Most brands want to open their first stores in Warsaw. That’s why retailers would rather wait than start off somewhere else, says Szymon Łukasik, Head of Retail Department at Cresa Poland.

Shopping centres remain the dominant retail format on the Polish market. Poland now has more than 420 shopping centres that provide 10.5 million sqm, accounting for 73% of the country’s total retail stock. Retail experts at Cresa Poland analysed the Polish retail market

From July onwards, entrepreneurs in Poland will decide whether to apply the split payment mechanism (SPM). As announced by the Polish Ministry of Finance, entities making split payments will be considered to be entrepreneurs of strong commercial integrity and business professionalism. Experts of Cresa Poland and tax specialists of Crido Taxand say whether it advisable to make use of the new regulations in their joint review “Commercial Real Estate Tax & Business Digest”.