2022 was a good, strong year in Poland's office market. After a downturn, it was time for a long-awaited boom in demand. Companies have adapted to new working conditions. Due to the loosening of restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, they have launched a campaign to encourage people to return to their offices. On the other hand, we will see lower development activity in both Warsaw and regional office markets in the coming quarters, which should last until 2024. AXI IMMO summarised 2022 on the Polish office market.

Markets are expected to remain subdued in H1 2023 due to the negative sentiment in the economy, the significantly higher financing costs and the subsequent pricing correction that is currently playing out in both CEE and many other global markets, reveals a report by Colliers.

In 2022, the Polish office market recorded a strong performance in terms of demand for office space which came predominantly from the financial, IT and business services sectors. Meanwhile, development activity slowed down amid rising construction costs and the deteriorating economic backdrop. This will result in a ‘supply gap’ in the largest regional city office markets and Warsaw alike, says Cushman & Wakefield in its latest report.

The Czech industrial market grew at a rapid speed in 2022. Almost 1.1 million sqm of new space was added to the market, which is over 155% of the 5-year average annually completed space and the highest recorded figure on record for the Czech market. The market overtook 10 million sqm in mid-year and just failed to overtake the 11 million sqm milestone at year-end, achieving 10.8 million sqm at the end of Q4 2022. There was 150,300 sqm of newly added modern industrial space in the last quarter, Colliers says in their latest report.

The end of the year for retail real estate in Poland was marked by a rise in inflation and the various consequences that followed it, increases in energy prices and the effects of the war in Ukraine.

As for the whole of 2022, the annual new supply of office space represents approximately 75,400 sqm. Although the annual supply of newly-completed space increased by 34% year-on-year, total volume was again below the long-term average of approximately 130,000 sqm per year. 2023 is expected to bring about some changes and more extensive construction. This means the Prague office market should grow to the 4 million sqm mark by 2025. Also at the close of 2022, several consecutive quarters of rent price growth came to a halt. These findings come from a survey by Colliers.

The second half of 2022 has brought 33,000 sqm of office space to the Brno office stock up to the final of 664,400 sqm. There were five new office buildings that were completed and six more are under construction now. At this moment, Ostrava has only one project under construction with the completion scheduled for 2023, says the Regional Research Forum in its latest report on H2 2022.

Belgrade’s residential market recorded a quarterly transaction volume of €826.4 million in Q4 2022, the highest on record, local real estate consultancy Cordon reports.

The PBSA sector has registered another strong year with occupancy rates and rents rising,  according to the newly released Student Housing Annual Report by Bonard. While soaring inflation, interest rates and rising costs in the last quarter of 2022 have slowed down investment transactions, the overall outlook is positive and experts expect the sector to keep growing in the next two years.

Lease transactions in the Bratislava office market in the fourth quarter of 2022 reached a total area of 54,532 sqm, which represents around a 41% increase in leasing activity compared to the previous quarter, the Bratislava Research Forum reports.