We encourage you to read the newsletter prepared by the Industrial and Warehouse Space Department of Cushman & Wakefield Poland.
Warehouse market overview
The first quarter of 2009 was a period of waiting for the Polish warehouse real estate market as it monitored developments in the global economy. Uncertainty regarding the future direction of the leasing market caused a significant decline in the number of new investments. At the same time, a large supply of warehouses completed in Q1 contributed to an increase in the vacancy rate to 13.6% nationwide (up from 10% in Q4 2008). Thanks to the increased amount of space on offer, rent levels stabilized, and in secondary locations, they even decreased.
Warehouse market supply
In Q1 2009, a record supply of new space was recorded in Poland – over 491,000 sqm was delivered to the market. The accumulation of supply is primarily due to the fact that decisions to build the facilities currently being delivered to the market were made in mid-2008, at a time when record demand for warehouse space was being recorded. Currently, however, due to the difficult situation in global financial markets, developers are striving to minimize risk and limit capital commitment, as a result of which they are postponing planned speculative investments, focusing on completing projects already underway and implementing investments intended for specific tenants (built-to-suit).
Warehouse market demand
In Q1 2009, the volume of transactions amounted to 134,000 sqm, which represents a 68% decrease compared to the same period of the previous year. New contracts dominated the demand structure (65%). Warsaw recorded a 20% share in leasing volume, while the Upper Silesia region dominated the market (51% of transaction volume) due to the size of the contracts concluded. Although prime rents remained at the level of the end of 2008 in most markets, a tendency for the gap between asking and transaction rents to widen was noticeable in secondary locations.
Newsletter in PDF format.
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