Polish Chamber of Commercial Real Estate (PINK) has published figures on the office market in Warsaw for Q3 2020. The data is sourced from advisory companies from the commercial real estate sector (BNP Paribas Real Estate, CBRE, Colliers International, Cresa, Cushman & Wakefield, JLL, Knight Frank, Savills) and includes information on modern office stock, new completions, take-up volumes and vacancy rates.

At the end of Q3 2020 total modern office stock in Warsaw accounted for 5.82 million sqm.

In Q3 2020, approximately 131,500 sqm of modern office space was delivered to the capital city market in six projects. The largest one was The Warsaw HUB complex offering totally 89,000 sqm in two buildings and The Malthouse Offices (24,000 sqm), both located in the City Centre office zone. In addition, 11,900 sqm of office space was delivered to the market in the Jerozolimskie Corridor – The Park 7 (10,000 sqm) and Bolero Office Point II (1,900 sqm). Other buildings were completed in the Mokotów zone – Kolonia Sielce Office (2,600 sqm) and Kosmatki 8 office building (4,000 sqm) in the East zone.

At the end of Q3 2020, the vacancy rate in Warsaw reached 9.6 percent (up 1.7 pp. compared to the previous quarter and increased by 1.4 pp. in relation to the comparable period in 2019). Availability of office space equaled 559,200 sqm. In central zones the vacancy rate was 8.4 percent, while outside the city center it reached 10.4 percent.

In 2020, demand for modern office space reached nearly 447,500 sqm, with particularly high tenant activity observed in the second quarter of this year – over 195,400 sqm of rented office space. While in Q3, the lowest tenant activity has been recorded with nearly 113,200 sqm let. The most popular areas of interest were invariably the City Centre zone and Mokotów zone.

Between July and September 2020 the highest share in total take-up volume was attributed to new deals – 47.9 percent (including pre-lets transactions). Renewals of current lease agreements attributed to 47.6 percent while expansions equaled to 4.5 percent.

The largest transactions of the third quarter in 2020 were renegotiations, signed by:   Medicover (6,200 sqm) in Equator II, Santander (5,500 sqm) in Atrium 2, a confidential tenant in The Villa Offices (over 5,300 sqm) and DLA Piper (5,300 sqm) in Atrium 2 building.

(WBJ)