Cushman & Wakefield’s reports on the Chinese market have shed light on how the retail sector and consumers responded to challenges facing them in the new reality. What lessons should the Polish retail sector learn from them? Daniel Stańczuk, Marketing & PR Senior Communications Specialist, Asset Services, at Cushman & Wakefield wrote about trends on the Polish market and ways of tailoring strategies to the new reality.

The Czech Republic came within the top ten countries around the world again this year in Cushman & Wakefield’s annual ranking based on the criteria such as operating costs including labour and the rate of economic and political risk. The country has regularly ranked among the best destination for manufacturers seeking to locate their operations since 2016 when it was included in the chart for the first time. The ability to bounce back after the coronavirus crisis was rated for the first time this year and the Czech Republic succeeded in this respect as well.

DSV, a global supplier of transport and logistics services, has closed the sell-and-lease-back transaction with French investor, Corum Asset Management, for the new DSV International Shared Service Centre in Warsaw’s Mokotow Business District. The total leasable area (GLA) of the project is 20,000 sqm. Cushman & Wakefield advised the seller.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, Poland was among the fastest-growing economies in the European Union. What’s it like now? In its latest report, Cushman & Wakefield brings an overview of the macroeconomic situation, looks at the impact of the pandemic on each real estate sector and presents economic growth forecasts for Poland.

The pandemic has changed the way we live and work. We still do not know whether these changes will be temporary or permanent in nature and whether they will stay with us, even when the threat of the disease is behind us. The uncertainty of the new and unprecedented situation has impacted all real estate sectors to a lesser or greater extent. Sharing of space, which is one of the key principles underpinning co-living, appears to be the absolute opposite of pandemic isolation. Contrary to appearances, this type of accommodation where in addition to sharing space residents also share a set of interests and values may be an easier and more enjoyable way of staying in quarantine, especially for lonely people and those living far from their families. Małgorzata Dziubińska, Associate Director at Cushman & Wakefield, says about co-living in the new reality.

With the ease of travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, companies begin to resume their activity in the headquarters located in office buildings, but with only 40% of employees in a first phase, according to a survey of Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Hypermarket chain Albert has sold Obchodní centrum Čestlice to HSTN Holding, a private investment platform founded in 2017 by the founders of Sportisimo. The sale was facilitated by Cushman & Wakefield.

Warehouse occupancy costs are a broad concept that can be interpreted in many ways. The key components include rent and service charges. Utility charges billed according to individual consumption constitute a variable component. And on top of that, there are the costs of labour, logistics, supply chains and use costs of space itself. Tenants frequently forget that rent paid to the landlord is not the only cost of doing business in a warehouse facility. “A service charge is the maintenance cost of a facility that is often part of a larger industrial park - it is reinvoiced to individual tenants by the landlord. Its key component is the property tax levied on the landlord and determined by local municipalities,” says Daniel Kempa, Associate, Industrial & Logistics, Cushman & Wakefield.

The two months of isolation and the situation still fragile regarding the danger of infection with the Covid-19 virus will mark their way into the consumption behavior of Romanians, as they will be tempted to choose more outdoor activities and spending their holidays in Romania, according to a study conducted by the real estate consulting company Cushman & Wakefield Echinox and the research company MKOR Consulting.

Although the majority of modern office stock is concentrated in Poland’s largest metropolitan areas, companies are increasingly looking beyond the core markets for office space Cushman & Wakefield has prepared a report on 12 alternative locations for BSS tenants.