Europe’s share of semiconductor production will need to more than double to reach the EU Chips Act’s target of 20% of global output by 2030, which will also generate demand for warehouse space across the continent.

According to Savills, growth in prime rents is set to remain robust across the continent having increased by 10.4% in the last four quarters. This is despite vacancy creeping up to 3.5% in Q1 2023, reflecting the impact of slower leasing activity.

Industrial investment volumes in Europe declined by 49% quarter-on-quarter, which was a 73% decline compared to Q1 2022. The Czech Republic is one of the three countries that has recorded the smallest decline in investment volumes year-on-year, Savills reported in the latest European Logistics Outlook. 

Colliers’ latest report finds that varying return-to-office approaches post-COVID, underlying fundamentals of city functionality, approaches towards ESG-compliance differences and how markets have reacted to shifts in inflation and interest rates have created a significant divergence in office investment volumes, pricing, and appetite globally. In Europe, vacancy sits at a steady 8.1% and office occupancy rates have returned mainly to pre-pandemic levels of 65% on average across Europe.

The investment volume in the first quarter of 2023 fully reflects the clear investor reluctance at the end of last year. According to a recent Arnold Investments market analysis, a real estate transaction volume of around €27 billion was recorded in the European Union. Compared to the same quarter in 2022, this is a decline of 60%.

The bull run in the European residential sector that was fueled by low interest rates in the past decade has been coming under strong pressure from ECB rate hikes, with valuations stagnating due to the wide gap in expectations between most buyers and sellers, according to research by property fund Catella. 

Industrial developer CTP has recorded a net income of €130.7 million in the first quarter of 2023, up 21.9% year-on-year, while the like-for-like rental growth stood at 7.8%, mainly driven by indexation and reversion on renegotiations and expiring leases. The company’s profit for Q1 2023 was €225.4 million which is 274% above the figure for Q1 2022 (€60.2 million).

Panattoni increasingly invests in post-industrial land. The share of brownfield sites in the developer's overall portfolio is steadily increasing. In countries such as Germany, France and the Czech Republic, they now even make up more than half of all of its projects under development. Altogether, this type of development now accounts for one-third of the total space completed by Panattoni in Europe and they are a perfect fit with the sustainable development strategy followed by the developer.

According to Savills’ latest research, European offices and logistics are the two commercial real estate sectors most shielded from energy shocks as utility costs account for a relatively small share of total business spending.

Markets like Poland have recorded rental growth of 20% and the upward trend is visible almost everywhere across P3 Logistic Parks’ European portfolio. During MIPIM, Property Forum sat down with David Marquina, Chief Development Officer of European Development at P3, to talk about the drivers of European logistics markets and to find out what’s next for the developer.