The real estate market across CEE is undergoing a profound transformation, adapting to new economic realities, technological progress, and shifting investor priorities. While traditional sectors continue to face pressure from financing costs, inflation, and geopolitical uncertainty, new opportunities are emerging in segments strongly linked to digital transformation and energy transition. Among these, data centres have rapidly become one of the most attractive asset classes for investors seeking long-term growth and resilient returns, writes Vlad Bălan, Director, Advisory, Deloitte Romania.

The European data centre sector is entering a period of unprecedented expansion, with operators expecting to commission an average of 67MW of capacity in 2026. 

At this year’s Expo Real, Katarzyna Kotkowska, Director, Investment, Poland and the Czech Republic at SEGRO, shared her perspective with Property Forum on current market sentiment, recent transactions, and evolving investment strategies in Central Europe. In this conversation, she discusses SEGRO’s selective approach to acquisitions, stable demand across its CEE portfolio, and the company’s long-term commitment to sustainability.

Greykite European Real Estate Fund I, its affiliates, and White Star Real Estate have announced key milestones in the transformation of the Digital Ursus site in Warsaw, signalling the successful early repositioning of a former logistics property into a strategic digital infrastructure hub.

Europe's data centre market is poised for record growth in 2025, with colocation data centre capacity expected to surge by 22% year-on-year to 855MW, according to new research by CBRE. 

Currently, data centres are one of the most attractive real estate asset classes for investors, according to an analysis by Savills. Investment volumes in this segment have been soaring to new heights, driven by the rapid adoption of AI, cloud computing, and digitalisation across industries. 

The Warsaw region is currently the largest data centre market in Poland. The capital is home to more than 50 server facilities and a key exchange point for internet traffic in the country. In 2023, Kowalski and his family generated an average of 236 GB of data via fixed Internet connections, while the share per SIM card oscillated at 132 GB of data per year. Most often, searching content is video, social networking, web browsing and gaming. How is the data centre market in Poland shaped, and what are its biggest challenges for the coming years? How crucial remains the further development and modernisation of the Polish energy sector? What direction is its transformation expected to take place, and how much GW of power could it bring? Axi Immo unveiled the second edition of its "Data Centres in Poland" report. 

ICT service provider Atman sp. z o.o. has purchased an investment site of nearly 6 hectares in Duchnice, in the municipality of Ożarów Mazowiecki. The transaction process for the Warsaw-based company, including engineering support and the preparation of administrative and legal formalities, was provided by JLL Poland.

Vantage Data Centers, a global provider of hyperscale data centre campuses, announced that two greenfield campuses in Berlin and Warsaw are now operational. The opening of a Warsaw campus marks the company’s first facility in Poland, while the development in Berlin marks the company’s second campus in Germany. Among Vantage’s portfolio of nine campuses in EMEA, five of them are now operational (Berlin I, Warsaw, Frankfurt I, Zurich and Cardiff).

Both Polish and international companies are reporting a growing demand for modern data centres. While the availability of suitable development land in established Western European markets is shrinking, Poland still has a large pool of excellent and affordable sites meeting data centre requirements.