The Warsaw office market is seeing signs of upcoming renewed development activity, says Savills. Three new office buildings were delivered in the first half of 2023, but a significant increase in new supply is not expected until 2025.

Since the second half of 2022, Savills has seen an increase in demand from manufacturing companies for modern warehouse space in the Czech Republic, accounting for 57% of the total space leased in the first quarter of 2023. One of the reasons why demand from this sector is growing is "nearshoring", i.e., the shift of production from Asia back to Europe. During Covid-19, demand was significantly driven by the e-commerce sector, which at its peak in Q3 2021, accounted for up to 62%. However, over the last three quarters, e-commerce activity has declined significantly and, as of Q1 2023, is now at 6%. Given uncertain energy supply and costs, and thanks to government support of renewable energy, demand from this sector is also growing significantly.

HIH Invest Real Estate has appointed real estate advisory firm Savills as the sole letting agent for vacant office space in Sagittarius Business House, located in Wrocław, Poland.

According to Savills, growth in prime rents is set to remain robust across the continent having increased by 10.4% in the last four quarters. This is despite vacancy creeping up to 3.5% in Q1 2023, reflecting the impact of slower leasing activity.

Industrial investment volumes in Europe declined by 49% quarter-on-quarter, which was a 73% decline compared to Q1 2022. The Czech Republic is one of the three countries that has recorded the smallest decline in investment volumes year-on-year, Savills reported in the latest European Logistics Outlook. 

IRE-TEX Praha, which designs, manufactures, and supplies packaging solutions, is moving part of its production, warehouse and offices to new premises in the Fáblovka industrial zone in Pardubice from October 2023. Savills mediated the five-year lease of the entire 7,500 sqm hall. IRE-TEX has two more production halls in Pilsen.

New office supply in the first three months of 2023 totalled 68,100 sqm and was delivered in three cities only: Kraków, Wrocław and Tricity. According to Savills, at the end of March, over 1 million sqm of office space was vacant, equating to an average vacancy rate of close to 16%.

According to Savills’ latest research, European offices and logistics are the two commercial real estate sectors most shielded from energy shocks as utility costs account for a relatively small share of total business spending.

No new office completions were noted in Warsaw during the first quarter of 2023, with office take-up falling by 40%. Key challenges facing office tenants hoping for an economic turnaround, as forecast by real estate advisory firm Savills, include a substantial increase in service charges which are expected to rise by 30-60%, depending on the type and class of an office building. 

According to Savills' latest European logistics outlook, the take-up of industrial and logistics space across the continent totalled 37.5 million sqm in 2022. Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, this signifies a fall of only 6% on 2021’s total of 40.2 million sqm, which was a record high for the sector.