The vacancy rate on the Warsaw office market reached 13.9% at the end of June, with gross take up in H1 2017 nearly reaching 400,000 sqm. The Polish Office Research Forum has published its figures for Q2 2017 for the office market in Warsaw. 

Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate, a German based real estate investment manager, will acquire the Sagittarius Business House office scheme in Wrocław on behalf of an individual fund it manages for an institutional investor. The property is under construction and its completion is expected in Q1 2018.

HB Reavis has completed the issue of a new series of its PLN 500 million bond programme established for the Polish market, raising €51.9 million (PLN 220 million). This latest issue represents not only the largest tranche in the history of the HB Reavis Group but also the largest bond issue achieved by a commercial real estate developer in Poland this year.

During H1 2017, the retail stock in Poland grew by 63,100 sqm. Shopping centres accounted for 16,600 sqm, retail parks for 21,500 sqm and standalone projects for 25,000 sqm. Recent market openings include standalone store Agata Meble (18,000 sqm) in Rzeszów, retail park Kalinka (9,700 sqm) in Kalisz as well as Tarasy Grabiszyńskie centre (8,500 sqm) in Wrocław. JLL summarised H1 2017 on the retail market in Poland.

Echo Polska Properties NV (EPP) has finalised another acquisition – a takeover of Galeria Solna in Inowrocław from a company owned by Libra Project and Acteeum Group. The value of the deal was €55.4 million.

Cresa, a tenant-only real estate advisor, will open an office in Warsaw this autumn. Piotr Kaszyński, who has 20 years’ experience in the real estate sector, will lead the Polish office.

According to Savills, the total volume of commercial property investment transactions concluded Q2 2017 in Poland exceeded €1 billion. Investor activity is high, driven mainly by portfolio transactions. 

Savills will advise in the recommercialisation process of Retail Park Karpacka in Bielsko-Biała. The investor of the retail scheme is Biuro Inwestycji Kapitałowych S.A.

Apsys has secured the long-term refinancing of Posnania, its flagship project in Poznan, with Berlin Hyp AG, ING Bank Śląski S.A., Société Générale and Deutsche Postbank AG. This refinancing amounting to €260 million in total is one of the largest ever granted in commercial real estate in Central Europe. The project's initial financing during the development phase in 2014 already set a record in this area. 

Vastint Poland has appointed Hochtief Polska as the general contractor of the second phase of Business Garden Wroclaw. Under the contract, six office and service buildings with a total leasable area of approx. 79,000 sqm are to be built. Construction works will commence in July this year and will end in November 2019.