Investors already existing in this segment have intensified their activities. Moreover, a few newcomers have recently entered the Polish market. They are targetting properties food-anchored or leased on long-term to the financially strong tenants of a good reputation, such as health & beauty or DIY stores. 

“These are especially sought-after when offered in portfolios. There have been, however, very few larger lot size transactions and the bulk of the deals were in the small lot size sector,” Radosław Pietrzak, Research & Data Manager at Avison Young in Poland, pointed out.

Due to the fact that most retail parks transacted in Poland belong to the convenience sector, Avison Young extended the analyses with this type of property. A tendency to shop in the vicinity of one’s place of residence (convenience retail) combined with the growing purchasing power of inhabitants of smaller towns, resulted in the dynamic development of retail parks and convenience retail, which have become an attractive investment segment over the last few years.

In the years 2015-2020, retail parks and convenience retail transactions share did not exceed 10 percent of total retail volume. This was a marginal value due to the fact that most of the transactions were concluded in small lot sizes – 72 percent of retail parks and convenience retail transactions in this period of time were worth less than €10 million. However, a trend of the rising number of transactions is noticed. In 2020, 23 of 35 retail transactions regarded retail parks and convenience retail. It enabled setting a new record for this sector in terms of the number of deals. The biggest convenience retail transaction in 2020 was a sale of Tyrion Portfolio, consisting of five convenience retail centers, where Avison Young represented the seller.

“What has attracted investors recently is convenience retail resilience to market fluctuations caused by COVID. Due to this fact and after many meetings with the investors, we forecast that this product will be sought‑after in 2021 even more,” Michał Ćwikliński, Principal, Managing Director at Avison Young in Poland, said.

(WBJ)