Real estate transactions at €3.2 billion in 2013

Poland AM Mon., Jan 27 FULL REPORT

Transaction volumes on the real estate market reached €3.2 billion in 2013, according to estimates by Jones Lang LaSalle. “This is the highest value since 2006, when the transaction volume reached €5 billion,” Agata Sekuła, head of retail investment CEE, told Forsal.pl. By comparison, in 2012 the volume came in at €2.75 billion. Retail real estate made up 40 percent of the entire transaction value last year. Office deals corresponded to 30 percent of the sum, and warehouses – 20 percent. This year will likely see lower real estate transaction volumes than in 2013, as the supply of prime real estate assets available for sale is lower and investors will have to focus on secondary assets in regional cities. Investors’ demand may well put smaller cities on the map, particularly in the retail segment, Michał Stanisławski, capital markets consultant at CBRE said. “Moreover, the competition between the buyers may increase with the new sources of capital coming from the Far East and the US, which already have a strong presence in Western Europe,” Stanisławski said. Colliers’ Piotr Mirowski said the transaction volume in 2014 may come in below the 2013 value, at some €2.5 billion, due to insufficient supply. /bks/jb