Cushman & Wakefield Echinox has been appointed to manage the Ethos office building, situated in the Floreasca area of Bucharest. This is the second mandate for the management of an office building by C&W Echinox in 2019.

Cushman & Wakefield Echinox was appointed to manage One Victoriei Center office building in Bucharest (former Bucharest Corporate Center), a representative business centre located in the business centre area of the Capital (CBD).

Cushman & Wakefield assisted Generali Real Estate in the acquisition of Palác Špork, a unique scheme in Prague 1. The seller is SEBRE, a.s. The price remains undisclosed. The agreement was signed on 11 March.

Real estate transaction volumes in 2018 were the strongest on record reaching US$1.75 trillion; a 4% year-on-year (y/y) growth and surpassing previous highs of US$1.68 trillion in 2017, according to new data from global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

The local real estate market has begun to attract the attention of major Asian investors, as groups from China and South Korea are exploring the potential to invest directly in the primary commercial markets. It is feasible that the first transaction could occur by the end of this year, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox consultants.

At the end of 2018, Poland’s industrial and warehouse stock reached 15.79 million sqm. Around 2.22 million sqm of modern warehouse and industrial space was delivered to the market last year, down by just 6% on 2017’s level. With 792,000 sqm constructed in the last 12 months, Central Poland reported a record-high development activity with large-scale completions for BSH, Media Expert and Smyk at Panattoni Central European Logistics Hub in Łódź (a total of 214,000 sqm), Hillwood BTS Zalando 1 in Głuchów (125,000 sqm) and Panattoni Park Stryków III (91,000 sqm). Other leading markets in terms of new supply were Upper Silesia (303,000 sqm), Wrocław (219,000) and Warsaw suburbs (205,000 sqm).

At the end of 2018, Poznań’s total office stock amounted to 479,100 sqm. Six projects completed in the last twelve months delivered 21,200 sqm of new office space. The largest completions included buildings IV and V of the Pixel complex: 8,850 and 8,950 sqm, respectively. Office take-up hit 70,400 sqm, which represented a 10% y/y decrease. Key lease transactions comprised the 14,750 sqm renegotiation and expansion by Santander Bank Polska at Poznań Business Garden, a deal signed for 10,300 sqm at a Nowy Rynek building and Carlsberg’s 3,950 sqm renegotiation at Nowe Garbary. Cushman & Wakefield summarised the Poznań office market at year-end 2018.

At the end of 2018, the total office stock of Katowice, Poland’s fifth largest office market, stood at 519,300 sqm. Last year’s new supply amounted to 50,800 sqm (+218% y/y) delivered across ten office projects, the biggest completions being .KTW (18,200 sqm), Silesia Business Park IV (10,700 sqm) and GPP Business Park IV – Bloch (7,500 sqm). Another 52,000 sqm of office space is expected to be constructed at seven new office schemes in the coming 12 months, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Wing entrusted JLL and Cushman & Wakefield real estate agencies with the leasing activities of its 42,000 sqm Liberty office building. The building will be realised next to the new Telekom headquarters and its delivery is expected in 2021.

At the end of 2018, modern office stock in Poland’s eight biggest cities (Krakow, Wrocław, Tricity, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Szczecin and Lublin) stood at more than 4.9 million sqm (+12% y/y). Krakow, Wrocław and Tricity topped the league table for total office stock. The Wrocław office market was the second regional city after Krakow to see its volume of office space exceed one million sqm. Cushman & Wakefield has summarized 2018 on Poland’s regional office markets.