Any investor who observes the real estate market right now is likely to start with warehouse assets. This trend has already been visible, but the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated it to an astonishing degree, says Robert Dobrzycki, Chief Executive Officer of Panattoni who talked to Property Forum about the driving forces behind the growth of the warehouse market.

Panattoni has launched its latest park in Poland’s Małopolska region. Panattoni Park Kraków East II will be situated on the eastern side of the Kraków conurbation, just off the Targowisko junction of the A4 motorway, and is to have an area of ​​almost 19,000 sqm. Panattoni’s presence in the region has since expanded to 4 existing projects with a total area of ​​100,000 sqm. As soon as late July or early August this year, the first tenant, Kenig Spedition, will be moving into 9,200 sqm of the complex, which will be used for logistics, service and production processes for its clients – manufacturers of pallets and packaging. The lease was mediated by consultancy Axi Immo.

CTP invests over €35 million in the construction of the new warehouse for Quehenberger Logistics in CTPark Bucharest West, the company announced.

P3 Logistic Parks (P3) announced the appointment of Frank Pörschke as its new CEO, with effect from 1 April 2021. Tim Beaudin, CEO since 2019 and previously Board Chairman, is stepping down as part of a planned leadership transition. 

CTP has announced a 15% annual growth which helped the company reach €344 million of annualised rental income by the end of 2020. With a portfolio of 6.3 million sqm and 740,000 sqm under construction at year-end 2020, CTP solidified its position as the largest logistics property owner and developer based on GLA in the Czech Republic, Romania and Serbia while announcing new developments in Austria, Poland and Bulgaria.

GLP has commenced development of a 51,000 sqm warehouse at GLP Park Prague Chrastany, 40,000 sqm of which has been leased to e-commerce business, Alza.

Avison Young experts estimate that Bucharest will continue to attract over 40% of industrial developments in the coming years, and then regional cities will recover.

Total commercial real estate investment into the Slovak market amounted to €502 million in 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 27%, according to Cushman  & Wakefield’s market reports for Q4 2020.

Polish industrial and logistics developer MLP Group continues its expansion strategy welcoming Austria to its portfolio. The developer has successfully acquired a plot to develop a new urban project MLP Business Park Vienna, located in the north-eastern part of Vienna in close proximity to the S2 expressway. The undeveloped land has a total area of 98,249 sqm and will offer almost 55,000 sqm of leasable space upon development completion. The transaction was liaised by the real estate advisor Otto Immobilien /Knight Frank.

The fourth quarter of 2020 closed a year full of changes and upcoming trends on the Czech industrial market. Despite the pandemic, the industrial segment proved stable, and there was a significant acceleration in the development of e-commerce, and specifically the digitalisation of the entire retail sector. There remains a high demand for premises on the market from investors and clients, and this interest puts pressure on prices, which will increase significantly at premium locations in 2021, according to 108 Agency.