Data centres are becoming an important segment of commercial real estate and the COVID-19 pandemic turned out to be an impulse for its accelerated growth. There are currently 115 data centres in Poland, of which the highest number is located in Warsaw (35), Katowice and Kraków (13 each). Axi Immo anticipates the market to develop further, especially following the decision by IT giants Google and Microsoft to add Warsaw to their list of global cloud regions, with a pledged investment of $2 billion and $1 billion respectively over the coming years. Axi Immo experts have prepared a report on the Polish data centre market, its requirements and specific features.

There was a monumental €26 billion (£23.5 billion) investment into the European data centre sector for the first half of 2020, despite the impact of COVID-19, according to a report by Knight Frank in partnership with DC Byte. This is over four times the $5 billion annual average figure and a colossal increase on last year’s $2 billion investment volumes. Take-up in H1 2020 was also 50% higher year-on-year at 282MW.

As of the end of Q3 2020, €3.9 billion have been transacted on Poland’s property market since the beginning of the year. The result is slightly lower than in the years 2018 and 2019, however, it is worth noting that despite the investors’ “wait and see” strategy at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, the outcome is still impressive. As many investors are returning to transactions which were put aside, multiple deals should be closed within the last quarter of the year which has always been a period of intense activity on the market, according to a report by Avison Young.

Local developer Sekyra Group has acquired the Stýblův dům townhouse on Wenceslas Square in Prague for around €16.6 million (CZK 450 million). The company is planning to invest €31.3 million (CZK 850 million) in restoring the building.

Romanian real estate developer Impact Developer & Contractor, listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, enters the real estate market in Iași through the acquisition of a 19,068 sqm land plot. The transaction marks a major step in the developer’s strategy for implementing residential projects in large cities throughout the country.

On 2 October 2020, CEE-based investor CPI Property Group submitted a binding offer to participate in a capital increase of Nova RE SIIQ S.p.A. The offer was approved by the board of Nova RE on 7 October 2020. CPIPG will subscribe for newly issued shares of Nova RE at a price of €2.36 per share, for a total consideration of about €26 million. Following the capital increase, CPIPG will own more than 50% of Nova RE and will launch a mandatory takeover offer for the remaining shares in Nova RE at €2.36 per share. The capital increase is subject to the approval of Nova RE’s financing bank (standard change of control provision) and will be funded with cash.

Immofinanz successfully placed €500 million fixed-rate senior unsecured notes with a 7-year maturity and a 2.50% fixed coupon on 8 October 2020. The net proceeds of the issue of the notes will be used to refinance existing debt, capitalize on value-creating growth opportunities, and for general corporate purposes. The issuance was oversubscribed around 2 times with strong demand by more than 110 investors.

The investment volume on the Polish commercial property market is estimated to have reached €1.05 billion in Q3 2020. According to Savills, the industrial sector accounted for approximately 70% of that total, which illustrates the current investor preference for logistics properties, especially facilities dedicated to e-commerce.

According to the latest insights from Colliers International, investment activity in commercial property in Europe is expected to rebound to reach €100 billion in Q4, following a robust turn-around in larger, post-COVID deals in Q3. This would take investment volumes for the whole year to around €270 billion, only 14 per cent down on activity in 2019, provided smoother waters prevail and the market isn’t further shocked by external geo-political or macro-economic factors.

The I&L sector in the CEE-17 has become one of the most sought-after asset types since 2019, after offices and residential according to Colliers International, CMS and Randstad. The report revealed that some of the key challenges in this sector include the availability of land and property in locations that meet both the developers and end-user expectations, along with the availability and reliability of utilities, connectivity to transport infrastructure, the availability and skills of the labour pool, and access to investment incentives.