Czech investor Arete Group’s third fund, focused on quality industrial and logistics assets in the CEE region, completed the acquisition of a production and storage facility near Beroun, 20 km from Prague. This is the acquisition of a complex used for the production and storage of the Czech company Hronovský s.r.o., which was founded in 1990 and is one of the leaders in the field of cable assembly production, machining on CNC machines, pressing of plastic components and assembly of mechatronic components. The financial volume of the transaction exceeded almost €10 million.

The first big tenant has moved into the first completed unit of the HelloParks industrial and logistics megapark located in Maglód, next to Budapest. FoxPost, the operator of the largest parcel locker chain of Hungary, has leased an area of 8,400 sqm and already started the installation of its new parcel sorting machines. With this investment of €1.5 million, FoxPost’s daily parcel sorting capacity will be increased by nearly tenfold.

CTP announced its results for the first half-year of 2021. CTP reports strong half-year results and is well on track to further accelerate its development, raising its GLA growth target to beyond 7.7 million sqm by year-end 2021, up from 7.5 million sqm as guidance at its IPO end of March 2021.

7R is building an advanced warehouse facility in Silesia for Aluprof SA – one of the manufacturers of aluminum systems in Europe. The tenant, which exports products to 55 countries and has 1,300 regular customers, will move into the building in Q1 2022.

According to Savills, the Czech nationwide industrial vacancy rate declined again and reached a new historic low of 2.4%, after dropping by 89 basis points (bps) since the end of 2020. The volume of new industrial space delivered to the market during H1 2021 was 43% down year-on-year (y-o-y). The total stock of modern industrial premises in the country grew by 192,300 sqm, of which 110,800 sqm were completed in Q2 2021. At the end of June, the total stock stood at 9.3 million sqm.

The total stock of industrial and logistics spaces gained close to 200,000 sqm in the first half of this year to more than 5.4 million sqm and the sector will continue to expand by the end of 2021, according to data from real estate consultancy Avison Young. 

A lack of materials and an increase in the price of construction work is troubling the industrial real estate market in the Czech Republic. Industrial space in desirable locations is in short supply. Occupancy rates in Prague and the close surroundings are rising and vacancy rates have almost reached zero. Tenants are well aware of the situation and it has become more common for them to extend their lease contracts for longer periods, according to 108 Agency’s market summary.

Total take-up on the Bratislava office market reached 37,000 sqm which represents a year-on-year increase of 19.5%. As the pandemic slowed down, retail leasing activity also returned and with it the surge in footfall and turnovers. Total quarterly industrial/logistics take-up recorded a strong 22% year-on-year growth, reaching 146,300 sqm. Cushman & Wakefield published its Q2 2021 industrial, office and retail market reports focused on the Slovak market.

Ecologistics, a 3PL company operating in the Czech Republic since 2017, has been expanding recently on the Czech property market, leasing in total 63,300 sqm of Class A commercial space in 4 industrial parks in Prague-West and in Pilsen-Stenovice from Prologis, GLP and Logicor. Ecologistics serves global e-commerce companies whose goods have been delivering to customers in the Czech and Slovak Republics as well as in Germany. The distribution centre in the Czech Republic was the second logistic hub Ecologistics opened in Europe after having entered the UK market. The firm has so far built a robust logistic framework across Western Europe, currently leasing premium logistics space also in Germany, France, Spain and Italy.  

Geis Logistics Hungary Kft., the local representative of the German-based transport and logistics company has signed a lease agreement for a custom-built production facility at CTPark Vecsés, near Budapest. The Geis Group will store Knorr-Bremse Systeme products in the new almost 16,000 square meters logistics facility with extra features related to the braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles produced by Knorr-Bremse Group.