Developing the neighborhood

According to DTZ's 2007 "Money into Property" report, 2008 shouldn't bring any big surprises to the table within Europe's real-estate market. The report states that all the European markets researched - including that of Poland - are liquid and growth-oriented. "There is no shortage of capital targeting the CEE, but for the first time we have a hard time trying to figure it out where the risk is - this year we don't know who is holding the risk," says Joe Valente, head of the DTZ research team.

According to Valente, 2007 is a year of transition, which finally recognizes the importance of globalization. "We've been observing a significant shift from sales of properties to sales of companies, which refers especially to the Australian and Middle Eastern investors," he emphasizes. The geographical focus of Australian investments is also changing, for example, with just 30 percent of its European investments targeting the UK now, down from 90 percent a few years ago.

The report suggests that the CEE region will see over E5 (zł.19.2 ) billion invested by listed property funds over the next few years, with Poland attracting a steady 40 percent approximately. In this period, Europe as a whole will add around 66 million sqm in office, retail and logistics space. This, however, is not likely to significantly affect leasing prices. The main problem, according to the study, will remain the insufficient number of attractive projects delivered, in spite of a high level of demand.