Boom time for Wielkopolska?
The warehouse market in Wielkopolska consists of over 81,186 square meters of modern stock, which can be divided into three scheme types: office/warehouse projects, which total some 29,389 square meters and are invariably located within city boundaries, warehouses situated up to 15 kilometers from Poznań and logistic parks located within a 30 kilometer radius of the city center, which together total some 59,000 square meters. The latter is regarded as the most active of the three sectors.
he biggest logistics park in the region is in Sady, 10 kilometers from Poznań, and has been operated by ProLogis since 2001. The leasable class A space available there amounts to 44,140 square meters and the occupancy rate has been increasing steadily, reaching 72 percent in December 2003. Its biggest competitor is Poznań Distribution Center which is situated alongside the A2 motor way and is 7 kilometers from the Volkswagen car plant. This warehouse and production facility has attracted suppliers from the automotive industry such as Decoma, which works closely with Volkswagen, to rent space there.
According to a market survey conducted in December last year by the International Advisory Search for Trade & Finance, take-up of warehouse space in Wielkopolska came to 68,196 square meters for 2003, around the same level as in 2002 (67,125 square meters). Sustained levels of leasing and very little speculative development meant that the vacancy rate fell significantly last year to 16. 2 percent, from 18 and 20 percent in 2001 and 2002 respectively. However, despite high take-up levels and relatively low vacancy rates, prime city and out-of-town rents continued to decrease throughout 2003 to an average of $ 3.95 (zł.14.47) per square meter and service charges typically range from $ 0.65 (zł.2.38) to $ 0.85 (zł.3.11) per square meter.
Recent announcements by ProLogis and AIG/Lincoln to expand their activities in western Poland (in Poznań, Wrocław, and Łódż) notwithstanding, the warehouse market in greater Wielkopolska is beginning to stabilize. New investments will provide additional warehouse space in the long run and developers are generally avoiding speculative investments in order to protect themselves against lower rents.
Łukasz Zalewski, who has conducted research on industrial properties for the JP Morgan Property Fund, holds that about 123,000 square meters of warehouse space will be developed in the Wielkopolska region over the next 10 years, mainly to serve German, Italian and Swedish companies. From this one might either predict a chronic oversupply of warehouse space or a genuine boom in new investors and companies using logistic parks in the area. Given increasing market confidence and the EU structural funds that are to be poured into the Polish economy, growth of 8-12 percent is, however, the most likely scenario.
he biggest logistics park in the region is in Sady, 10 kilometers from Poznań, and has been operated by ProLogis since 2001. The leasable class A space available there amounts to 44,140 square meters and the occupancy rate has been increasing steadily, reaching 72 percent in December 2003. Its biggest competitor is Poznań Distribution Center which is situated alongside the A2 motor way and is 7 kilometers from the Volkswagen car plant. This warehouse and production facility has attracted suppliers from the automotive industry such as Decoma, which works closely with Volkswagen, to rent space there.
According to a market survey conducted in December last year by the International Advisory Search for Trade & Finance, take-up of warehouse space in Wielkopolska came to 68,196 square meters for 2003, around the same level as in 2002 (67,125 square meters). Sustained levels of leasing and very little speculative development meant that the vacancy rate fell significantly last year to 16. 2 percent, from 18 and 20 percent in 2001 and 2002 respectively. However, despite high take-up levels and relatively low vacancy rates, prime city and out-of-town rents continued to decrease throughout 2003 to an average of $ 3.95 (zł.14.47) per square meter and service charges typically range from $ 0.65 (zł.2.38) to $ 0.85 (zł.3.11) per square meter.
Recent announcements by ProLogis and AIG/Lincoln to expand their activities in western Poland (in Poznań, Wrocław, and Łódż) notwithstanding, the warehouse market in greater Wielkopolska is beginning to stabilize. New investments will provide additional warehouse space in the long run and developers are generally avoiding speculative investments in order to protect themselves against lower rents.
Łukasz Zalewski, who has conducted research on industrial properties for the JP Morgan Property Fund, holds that about 123,000 square meters of warehouse space will be developed in the Wielkopolska region over the next 10 years, mainly to serve German, Italian and Swedish companies. From this one might either predict a chronic oversupply of warehouse space or a genuine boom in new investors and companies using logistic parks in the area. Given increasing market confidence and the EU structural funds that are to be poured into the Polish economy, growth of 8-12 percent is, however, the most likely scenario.
