Barbara Topolska, Country Manager for Poland at CPI Property Group has talked to Property Forum about the acquisition of Immofinanz, ESG contributions and the current financing conditions.

Czech real estate fund Investika's latest acquisition is the Royal Trakt Offices building in Warsaw. The roughly 150-year-old property in the centre of the capital city was bought by the fund from global real estate investor Patrizia SE. The acquisition was announced to Property Forum by Linklaters, the law firm that advised the real estate fund Investika during the acquisition. No further details of the transaction have been disclosed yet.

In the first two quarters of 2023, the volume of investment in the Polish real estate market was about €870 million. This result is 70% lower than the first half of 2022, when the Warsaw Hub office complex was sold for a record price. Investment in the warehouse sector accounted for more than half of the volume for H1 2023, with a total turnover of €438 million. Although this result represented a decrease of 34% compared to the first half of 2022, it was still higher than the 10-year average of €425 million, says JLL. 

Despite a supply gap and a low level of new completions (18,700 sqm in H1), there is a lot of optimism in the capital’s office market. Over 230,000 sqm is scheduled to be delivered in the next three years, which will significantly increase the amount of office space available to let. On the demand side meanwhile, we observe a relatively high occupier demand, whereby 2/3 of all agreements signed in H1 were new leases. AXI IMMO presents market data for the first half of 2023.

How does hyper-personalisation differ from personalisation which has ruled the retail market for years? The former leverages transactional and behavioural data and AI systems to foresee consumer needs more precisely, to reach out with a bespoke and personalised offer, and to deepen existing brand-customer relationships and build new ones. Although hyper-personalisation-based solutions in marketing strategies were initially intended for online shopping, this trend is now opening up new opportunities in multichannel retail. Cushman & Wakefield points out the growing role of such solutions for shopping centre retailers in an increasingly competitive market environment.

1.2 billion sqm of space is required globally in the next decade to satisfy the growing demand for the top three ‘alternative’ property sectors, providing a major opportunity for investors, says Savills.

Archicom has absorbed the residential development projects, the team of employees and the land bank of Echo Investment. The General Meetings of Shareholders of both companies have given their approval for the consolidation of their residential business. Following the completion of the transaction, Archicom is positioned as one of the largest residential developers in Poland, while Echo Investment is focused on commercial real estate, apartments for rent and mixed-use "destinations" projects. The company's share in Archicom's capital will total 89.30%.

The completion of the industrial park in Choroszcz, a Białystok district, has been announced. The Czech investor made its debut in the region in 2018 with an investment in an industrial park in Białystok. Currently, Accolade owns facilities totalling approximately 80,000 sqm in the Białystok region. Both Park Białystok I and the nearby Park Białystok II in Choroszcz remain fully leased. All the parks in Accolade's portfolio are BREEAM certified and aligned with the specifics of each region.

Cushman & Wakefield has released a summary of retail market conditions in Poland. At the end of Q2 2023, there was close to 500,000 sqm of retail space under construction, seven international brands debuted on the Polish market in the three months to June while the expansion of retail parks continued apace. On the other hand, both retail tenants and landlords continued to face high inflation which impacted their real turnover levels.

According to a report published by Newmark Polska, occupier activity in Poland’s regional city office markets remains stable, but tenants are increasingly shifting their focus towards making efficient use of office space and looking for better quality offices.