Q1 2020 in property investment market summarized

The international consulting company Cushman & Wakefield summarized the first quarter of 2020 on the investment market in Poland.

As the company's experts point out, the beginning of 2020 began very well for the Polish commercial real estate market. As much as €1.72 billion was invested in this sector, which is the second-best result for the first quarter of the year in history. Unfortunately, investor activity has been significantly reduced due to uncertainty about the scale and length of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 virus.

“This year was to be a continuation of the excellent results achieved by Poland in the last few years, fueled by the rapidly growing demand from tenants, a large market and attractive investment profitability. In the first quarter of 2020, we observed a huge interest in warehouse and office real estate, which resulted in very low capitalization rates, often reaching historically low levels,” Paweł Partyka, Partner at Cushman & Wakefield, said.

In total, the office and warehouse sector accounted for almost 95 percent of the total transaction volume, with logistics at the forefront. Retail investors were also active, but mainly in the sector of retail parks, construction and grocery stores. The volume of these transactions did not exceed €40 million.

Despite the outbreak of a pandemic, a large proportion of transactions that entered an advanced stage before the crisis were or are being completed. In contrast, interest in new projects has decreased significantly.

(WBJ)