The Regional Research Forum has presented H1 2024 Brno and Ostrava office market data. The vacancy rate in both cities is moving slightly below 12%.

The average flat size in Poland is 21 sqm smaller than the EU average and the overcrowding rate is nearly 20 percentage points higher, says Cushman & Wakefield in its latest report. It is therefore no wonder that despite increasingly prohibitive prices, housing demand continues to grow, thereby fuelling demand for mortgages. According to BIK data, June 2024 saw an almost 52% year-on-year increase in mortgage enquiries, with this growth also driven by interest rate cuts - the first since 2021. It would take Polish people wanting to buy a dream home several years to save up enough for a 20% mortgage deposit. Unfortunately, Cushman & Wakefield’s forecasts indicate that price growth is unlikely to ease to give Polish consumers some respite. Contrary to intentions, factors that are likely to add to their disadvantage include a new governmental support scheme and constrained land availability.  

Cushman & Wakefield has summarised the situation on the Polish retail market in the second quarter of 2024. There were eight new retail completions with the development pipeline comprising approximately 400,000 sqm. This indicates healthy supply levels amid unwavering occupier demand and strong retail sales, shopping centre footfall and turnover figures.

SCPI Transitions Europe managed by Arkéa Real Estate Investment Management has acquired Lastadia Office, a fully let office building located on an island by the western bank of the Oder River in Szczecin, from Greenstone Asset Management. The value of the deal has not been revealed. 

Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed as property manager for the VIG Fund’s three office buildings in Warsaw: Libra Business Center B, Life Building, and Jasna 26. The award of the mandate will see Cushman & Wakefield manage its entire Polish real estate portfolio of more than 47,000 sqm. 

Empik in Cepelia, Decathlon City in the International Business Center, Bulgari, Luca, Carhartt and Le Szapo. Do the leases signed in Warsaw in recent months herald a high-street revival in Warsaw and beyond? High shopping centre density rates and shrinking retail availability bode well for it. In addition, Cushman & Wakefield notes that the Polish retail market is now going through a very interesting period of growth, with many tenants increasingly focusing on location diversification as new retail concepts and formats are emerging. This means that there is a real chance of a revival of high-street retail.

Prime Logistics Wrocław and logistics service provider LX Pantos have signed a lease for 100,000 sqm. The transaction saw LX Pantos renegotiate its contract and expand to a new building to consolidate its warehouse space in a single location. This marks the largest warehouse deal in Poland this year. LX Pantos was advised by Cushman & Wakefield. CBRE advised the owner of Prime Logistics Wrocław, Brookfield Properties.

According to the latest report from Cushman & Wakefield, occupier demand was notably weaker on the Polish industrial market in the first quarter of 2024. However, despite a double-digit decline in take-up, Poland was one of the most active leasing markets in Europe. Development activity also stabilised, but this year’s new supply is forecast to be the fourth highest in the history of the Polish industrial market.

Cushman & Wakefield has signed an exclusive affiliate agreement with CBS International to deliver commercial property services in Austria. The affiliate agreement builds upon an existing successful relationship between the two firms, with CBS International having been Cushman & Wakefield’s affiliate in Serbia and Montenegro since 2018 and Croatia since 2019.

New office deliveries in regional cities totaled 83,000 sqm in 2023 and the total leasable area has climbed close to 1.1 million sqm, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report. Offices in regional cities of the likes of Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara and Brașov represent around 30% of the corresponding total in Bucharest.