Negative factors such as the pandemic, uncertainty caused by the conflict in Ukraine and a rapidly rising inflation rate have significantly affected property buyers' sentiments and decisions.

Panattoni has started the construction of the first Polish logistics centre for Hermes Fulfilment. The investment is being built in Iłowa in Western Poland. The 150,000 sqm project will be one of Hermes’ largest hubs in Europe and is to provide employment for around 1,900 people. The company is planning to open the centre by the end of 2023 following an investment of around €300 million.

The Polish Chamber of CommercialReal Estate (PINK) has published figures summarizing the office market in eight major regional markets in Poland (Kraków, Wrocław, the Tri-City, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Lublin, Szczecin) for Q1 2022. The data is sourced from advisory companies from the commercial real estate sector (BNP Paribas Real Estate, CBRE, Colliers, Cushman & Wakefield, JLL, Knight Frank, Newmark, Savills) and includes information on existing modern office stock, new completions, take-up volumes and vacancy rates.

Real estate advisory firm Savills estimates that the prices of building materials for new commercial real estate construction in Poland increased by close to 30% in the past 12 months and expects demand for technical consultancy to grow. The Building & Project Consultancy team of Savills Poland has summarised its activity in 2021, a year in which it completed close to 60 projects for commercial properties with a combined area of 1.5 million sq m and almost doubled its headcount.

Office Warsaw faces major challenges: deteriorating macroeconomic indicators, rising construction and utility costs, and upward pressure on rents and service charges. In addition, there are delays resulting from broken supply chains, the spectre of a supply gap and a strong reshuffling in the demand structure. On the other hand, the capital city market reports a quarterly record in lease agreements signed and attracts an IT giant that buys one of the newest office-mixed use complexes; all this is according to the summary of the first quarter in the Warsaw office market prepared by BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland experts.

The latest report from research firm Spectis indicates that following a strong start to the year, the outlook for the construction sector over the coming months of 2022 is now less bright. The expected slowdown can be indirectly caused by the ongoing war in Ukraine, which only aggravates the problems the market has been facing previously, such as soaring prices of raw materials, building materials, and energy sources or the shortage of labour.

7R has built a BTS format warehouse in Goleniów for FIEGE, a European logistics operator. From the end of March FIEGE runs in Goleniów an international distribution centre, on an area of nearly 62,500 sqm, for a well-known global e-commerce giant.

Strong, self-reliant economic centres are emerging amid ongoing supply chain disruptions and competition for natural resources. Europe is expanding its manufacturing and warehouse base, while Poland, with its skilled labour, lower labour costs than in the West and its mature and buoyant industrial and warehouse market, will be one of the key beneficiaries of these changes, says Piotr Kaszyński, Managing Partner, Newmark Polska, in an interview with Property Forum.

Panattoni is developing another complex in the Kraków region – Panattoni Park Kraków North, with an area of ​​55,000 sqm. The first tenant has already been secured for the park: Trivium Packaging – a global manufacturer of metal packaging, which will transfer its existing chemical packaging operations to its new ​​21,000 sqm premises at the beginning of 2023. Panattoni has now developed approaching 200,000 sqm of industrial space in the Kraków region.

Griffin Capital Partners has announced two senior executive promotions as the company continues to grow its presence in the private equity and real estate markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Piotr Fijołek and Tomasz Mrowczyk, currently Senior Partners, have been promoted to the positions of Co-Managing Partners. The position is new in the structure and has been created especially to appreciate the contribution of the two managers to the growth of the company.