Leasing activity in the Romanian industrial and logistics market was up 21% to 360,000 sqm in the first half compared to the same period of last year, driven by relocations and the closing of new contracts, according to a report by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

Poland-based warehouse and industrial developer MDC² has acquired a new development site that will accommodate a warehouse and logistics project in the Upper Silesia region, located in Gliwice at the intersection of the A1 and A4 motorways. MDC² Park Gliwice will comprise 52,000 sqm of modern and environmentally sustainable warehouse and logistics space.

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.

Accolade decided to expand its industrial park in Gorzów Wielkopolski. In this strategic location in Western Poland, in addition to the present spaces of 53,000 sqm for modern business, it has acquired new plots and will deliver nearly 100,000 sqm of new industrial warehouses. New projects aspire to BREEAM certification of sustainability at tje “Excellent” level. The total Accolade investment in the region amounts to €125 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.

GEODIS, an international logistics company, has signed a lease agreement for additional 5,000 sqm of warehouse and office space in the Tristar Wrocław industrial and logistics park. Until now GEODIS Poland Sp. z o.o. who provides Contract Logistics, Road Transport and Freight Forwarding Services occupied approx. 15,000 sqm. Starting from 2nd February 2022, GEODIS will expand their footprint in the project to 20,000 sqm of total leased area.

The Polish warehouse market experienced robust occupier demand in H1 2021, with take-up at 3.3 million sqm. Logistics companies and e-commerce retailers accounted for over half of all space leased. Supply also remains high, with 1.1 million sqm delivered in the first six months of 2021, which is a testament to strong market fundamentals. Very good absorption of space has resulted in a decline in availability, to 5.4% of the stock at the end of June. However, with the amount of space under construction at an all-time high of 3.4 million sqm, the vacancy rate is expected to stabilise in the upcoming quarters. Advisory firm Axi Immo presented its report "Polish Warehouse Market in H1 2021".

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.

Hungary-based Alfa Group plans to raise approximately HUF 10 billion in its first Green Bond issue scheduled for October 2021. Ohad Epschtein, Managing Partner of Alfa Group International talked to Property Forum about the importance of sustainability and he also shared some details about the company’s expansion strategy.