What will offices look like once the pandemic is over? Five quarters of a health crisis later and there is still no clear answer for Warsaw’s office market. Prudent decision-making and waiting to see what happens as observed for the last few quarters on the one hand, with evident landlord flexibility, great expectations as to the vaccination rate in the capital, unfreezing of decision-making processes regarding office leases and the decidedly growing need and desire to return to office working on the other hand. Analysts at BNP Paribas Real Estate discuss the key trends prevailing on the capital’s office market to summarize the second quarter of the year.

Investments in Romania’s commercial real estate sector amounted to €303.6 million in the first half of the year, which was a drop of 21% compared to the same period of 2020, according to CBRE Research data. 

Slovak developer Immocap has secured €44 million of construction financing and €50 million of investment financing by UniCredit Bank for The Mill office project in Bratislava’s Mlynské Nivy. The completion of the project is expected in 2023.

The new office supply in Bucharest is set to exceed 200,000 sqm in the second half of this year, with almost two thirds of the offices scheduled for delivery by year’s end already pre-leased. 

Tenants on the office market are cautiously optimistic as demand for offices outside Warsaw grows. Advisory company JLL summarizes the situation on the Polish office market in H1 2021.

Over 21,000 sqm of office space located on 13 floors, terraces for tenants and a basketball court – this will be the second phase of the Centrum Południe office complex currently being developed by Skanska. Like the existing buildings, the new phase will apply for numerous certificates, including the WELL Core&Shell. 

Property developer Atenor says it has concluded the sale of Hermes Business Campus in Bucharest to Adventum Group, an investment manager focused on Central and Eastern Europe. 

The Polish Chamber of Commercial Real Estate (PINK) has published figures summarising office market in eight major regional markets in Poland (Kraków, Wrocław, the Tri-City, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Lublin, Szczecin) for Q2 2021. 

According to “Office Occupier: Office Market in Warsaw”, a report published by real estate advisory firm Cresa Poland, total leasing volume reached close to 249,300 sqm in the first half of 2021, accounting for 32.1% of the annual average for 2015-2020.

Lease transactions in Q2 2021 on Bratislava’s office market reached 37,000 sqm, representing a 19% increase year-on-year. Bratislava Research Forum announced the office market figures for Q2 2021.