Kraków is continuing its good run as Poland's second largest office market. During the first six months, lease contracts for nearly 135,000 sqm were signed in Kraków which equates to 44% of demand for modern office space outside Warsaw. The most notable transactions in H1 2019 signed both in Kraków and in the largest regional markets in Poland were a record pre-let by UBS for 19,600 sqm in Fabryczna Office Park, a pre-let by Sabre for almost 16,000 sqm in the Tischnera Office, and an 11,200 sqm renewal by Akamai in the Vinci Office Building.

The value of output generated by the Polish construction industry has reached an all-time high level on the back of several years’ investment upturn and it is expected to come close to €59 billion (PLN 250 billion) in 2020. In nominal terms, the market’s value is impressive, but it is less so when one looks at the volumes of construction work being performed and building materials used. A noteworthy fact is that the growth in the market’s value is boosted by rising prices of building materials and higher labour costs.

According to the panellists of the investment panel at CEE Property Forum 2019, sellers have become more cautious compared to last year when they thought the market was reaching the peak and they were going to get the best price possible. Prices, however, have gone up significantly in the last 12 months as the general lack of quality investment products persists in the region.

The number of office schemes built in Prague this year is the highest in the last five years: a total of 17 new buildings providing office space will have opened by the end of the year. The last time the market reached such a high figure was in 2014 – at the time, it was 18 schemes. In the meantime, the number was one-third lower, about 11 buildings on average.

The importance of new locations on the industrial real estate market in Poland looks set to rapidly grow - this is the conclusion that can be drawn from the “Small town, big deal” report prepared by JLL in cooperation with Hillwood Poland and ManpowerGroup. The so-called Big Five (Warsaw, Upper Silesia, Central Poland, Poznań and Wrocław) still remain the growth engine and continuously attract the majority of investments. However, cities such as Konin, Kielce and Częstochowa are the rising stars of the Polish industrial market.

Cordia is now increasing its capital exports and foreign investments. In addition to the Romanian and Polish market, the company also has presence in Spain with a pilot project. All of this fits into Cordia’s strategy to become a dominant property developer at European level, while maintaining Hungary's key role in the company’s operation.

Do Polish public administration units move with the times? It turns out that more and more of them indeed do - the number of state-owned institutions that have decided to lease space in modern office buildings have markedly increased in the past few years, according to JLL’s latest report.

Property Forum and RICS are organizing the seventh edition of CEE Property Forum this September. Just like in previous years, leading decision-makers in real estate will come together in Vienna to discuss the future of the industry. CEOs, influential investors, bankers, developers, fast-growing proptech start-up founders, architects and valuers will analyse the potential of the CEE property market from a global perspective, providing an excellent networking opportunity.

Nearly 70,200 sqm of office space is currently under construction on Katowice’s office market, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Of the six projects underway, the largest is Face2Face Business Campus, comprising two phases with a total of 46,800 sqm.

Lublin’s total office stock remained unchanged at the end of June 2019, flatlining at 191,200 sqm, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Despite the lack of new supply, occupier activity was healthy, which pushed the city’s vacancy rate down to 10.6%, representing a 9.1 pp decrease year-on-year.