Poland remains an attractive destination for investments and this is reflected in the impressive results on the office markets both in Warsaw and regional cities. With ambitious plans, investors are looking to the future with optimism. JLL summarized the situation on the Polish office market in 2017.

Apleona GVA has secured a contract for technical support and advisory services during the pre-opening phase of the Holiday Inn Warsaw City Centre Hotel and the transition to the new owner. The 256-room property is ready to host its guests. It was officially acquired by Union Investment Real Estate GmbH on January 31st for its UniImmo: Deutschland fund.

In 2017, real estate transactions hit a record-breaking volume of € 5 billion, up by nearly 10% on the previous year. Bank financing for properties remained unchanged, averaging approximately 60% of each property’s value. Cushman & Wakefield has published its opinion on the commercial property lending market in Poland, written by Mira Kantor-Pikus, Partner, Equity, Debt & Structured Finance, Capital Markets at Cushman & Wakefield Poland.

Prologis has signed four lease agreements totalling 62,700 square metres at its parks in Chorzów and Dąbrowa Górnicza, bringing its Silesian portfolio to 98 percent occupied.

In the two-year period since acquiring the office building for the Cromwell Central Europe Retail Partnership (CCERP), Cromwell has generated more than 21 per cent IRR for investors. The name of the buyer and the purchase price has not been disclosed.

JLL is expanding its scope of hotel services in Poland. Agata Janda, who joined JLL at the beginning of 2018 as Head of Hotel Advisory, will be responsible for growing JLL’s involvement in this sector.

Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed exclusive sales agent for a tenement building at 68 Piękna Street in Warsaw.

The MLP Group has handed over a ready for use, 24,700 square meter warehouse facility to Żabka Polska S.A., located in the MLP Gliwice logistics park.

Developer activity remains strong despite high retail space saturation in many Polish cities. Magdalena Sadal, Head of Retail Research & Advisory at Cresa Poland, talks about retail space saturation and the purchasing potential in Poland’s largest agglomerations.

2017 witnessed robust leasing activity that was driven largely by the financial services sector, which amid moderate supply pushed Warsaw’s office vacancy rate down to 11.7%, the lowest since Q3 2013. Cushman & Wakefield presented an overview of the Warsaw office market for 2017.