Record demand for warehouse space in Poland
13:54
A record 896,000 sqm of warehouse space was leased in Poland in the third quarter of this year, according to a recent report by Cushman & Wakefield. Previously, the highest take-up level in the sector, of 890,000 sqm, was recorded in the final quarter of 2013, the study said. Silesia (212,000 sqm), the Warsaw area (194,000 sqm) and central Poland (105,000 sqm) accounted for the most leasing activity in Q3 2016. Of the smaller regional markets, Szczecin put up the best performance in the quarter, accounting for the take-up of 150,000 sqm of warehouse space (including the 130,000 sqm leased in the single Goodman-Zalando transaction).
“Although the retail, logistics and automotive sectors dominate the overall volume of demand, it is the growing prevalence of e-commerce which is leading to mega warehouse facilities being constructed, a trend we expect will continue as this sector develops and traditional retailers also implement fulfillment centers to facilitate growing online orders,” commented Tom Listowski, the head of the industrial and logistics agency at Cushman & Wakefield in Poland.
The average vacancy rate for the whole country stood at 5.9 percent at the end of September, ranging in the major markets from 8.8 percent in the Warsaw area, to 5.5 percent in Wrocław, 5.2 percent in Poznań, 4.8 percent in Silesia and 3.1 percent in central Poland. The existing warehouse space stock in Poland increased by approximately 350,000 sqm in Q3, with the development activity remaining at a high level in most of the regional markets across the country. More than 860,000 sqm was under construction at the end of the quarter, of which around 42 percent was being developed on a speculative basis. The most new space was being built in Poznań (156,000 sqm), Bydgoszcz and Toruń (129,000 sqm), central Poland (116,000 sqm), the Warsaw area (97,000 sqm), Wrocław (83,000 sqm) and Silesia (82,000 sqm).
