Central Poland is the most desirable location for the development of logistics centers in Central and Eastern Europe. It is followed closely by Istanbul in Turkey, Prague in the Czech Republic, Bucharest in Romania, and Budapest in Hungary, according to the report “Logistics Real Estate Network Development in Europe,” prepared by Prologis in cooperation with Eyefortransport (EFT).
– The results of the latest research we conducted in Europe clearly show a trend of shifting supply directions towards the Central European region. This is influenced by several factors: the availability of labor, the availability of investment land, as well as the cost of both real estate and employees – Paweł Sapek, Senior Vice President and Country Manager of Prologis for Poland, tells newsrm.tv.
Comparing the results of this year’s study with the first ranking developed in 2013, it is the Central and Eastern European markets that have recorded the largest growth. Nine out of the ten top markets in the region improved their results. A total of eight CEE locations made it into the top twenty in Europe; three years ago, there were only four.
– One of the locations in Poland that moved up the highest in the ranking was Central Poland, i.e., Piotrków, Łódź, Stryków. The development of road infrastructure helped in the development of the location. It is also a location that was indicated by respondents as the cheapest in terms of both real estate costs and labor costs – adds Paweł Sapek.
As the respondents indicated, the main factor determining the popularity of Central and Eastern Europe is low costs. Markets in this region dominated the rankings in terms of criteria such as “labor costs” (eight of the ten most popular locations in Europe are located in CEE) or “real estate costs” (thirteen out of twenty locations). Central Poland is the only location that made it into the top ten of the ranking in terms of these two criteria. Our country is also becoming increasingly attractive to investors.
– It can certainly be confirmed that Poland is becoming more and more attractive, mainly due to further development opportunities. Western Europe is already very saturated, and it is very difficult to carry out new projects there, for example, due to the availability of land. However, in our country, the development plans of developers and logistics companies are very broad – says Paweł Sapek.
The development of markets in the CEE region is taking place at the expense of Western European countries. The largest drops in the rankings concern Liège, Paris, Brussels, Madrid, and Central Germany. Distribution centers located in the vicinity of airports, including Frankfurt and Amsterdam-Schiphol, have also lost their position. According to the report, this is caused by low results regarding labor availability and labor costs. The most desirable location in Europe is Venlo, which defended the first place obtained in 2013 and in this year’s edition of the study distanced other markets. Venlo received the highest marks in nine out of 11 criteria regarding location, gaining a particular advantage in terms of real estate availability, road connections, transport costs, and formal-legal regulations. Second place on the podium was taken by Rotterdam, an important port in the western Netherlands. It is followed closely by the Antwerp/Brussels region in Belgium and Central Brabant and East Brabant in the southern Netherlands. After the Benelux countries, the top ten locations also included German Düsseldorf, Central Poland, Antwerp/Hasselt, Istanbul, and Cologne.