Close to 130,000 sq m was delivered to the market across all retail formats in Q4 2020, bringing last year’s total new supply to more than 340,000 sq m. Despite pandemic-related restrictions and successive lockdowns (7-28 November and from 28 December onwards), the fourth quarter witnessed 11 new retail completions and an outlet centre extension. Newly built schemes were sized under 20,000 sq m, and nearly half of the Q4 2020 new supply was delivered in cities below 50,000 inhabitants. Cushman & Wakefield summarizes current situation on Polish retail market.

Despite its unique nature, 2020 brought twice as many new offices in Warsaw as the previous year. Thanks to the high activity of developers, there is already a total of over 12 million sqm of office space in the largest cities in Poland. This year, the leaders of the real estate development market announce further completions of large investments. The companies implementing office projects throughout the country plan to commission up to 800 thousand sqm of new space.

Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk (Tricity) and Wrocław are among the top ten markets for hotel operators in Central and Eastern Europe and in Southern and Eastern Europe, making Poland the regional leader. Hotel operators are also targeting other regional cities across Poland, says global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

Heimstaden Bostad AB announces its second acquisition in Poland, consisting of three build-to-rent projects in Warsaw with 647 residential units of 29,851 sqm and 11 commercial units of 1,068 sqm for approximately SEK 842 million (PLN 381 million) and an option to acquire an additional 60 apartments. The seller and developer is Marvipol Development SA.

Nikodem Iskra, CEO of Murapol, one of the largest residential developers in Poland, believes that in 2021 the residential market will shake off the effects of the pandemic. He foresees further increases of apartment prices – in his opinion record-low interest rates are not only stimulating the mortgage market, but are also a strong impulse for investment activity

In 2020, demand for office space in regional cities was 16% lower compared to 2019, the vacancy rate increased by 3.2 pp and the volume of office space under construction is at its lowest in about five years. Advisory firm JLL summarizes the situation in the Polish office market at the end of 2020.  

Resi4Rent, the largest private company with subscription-based apartments, has expanded its offer by nearly 230 units in Warsaw. The first residents have just moved into the project located in the heart of Mokotów business district.

Ghelamco has started preparations for the construction of The Bridge skyscraper. The building will stand at the intersection of Towarowa and Grzybowska streets, next to Plac Europejski (European Square) in Warsaw.

MLP Group has commenced a project to revitalise the first mid-urban business park in the city of Poznań. The largest of the seven renovated facilities has been leased by a distributor of household appliances and consumer electronics. The renovated facility, with a total area of 12,000 sqm, will be available for occupancy in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Finnish developer YIT has been awarded a construction permit for a mixed-use complex next to the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk.