The first half of 2020 was the strongest on record for the warehouse and industrial market in Poland, says real estate advisory firm Savills. Despite Covid-19 challenges, take-up set an all-time high halfway through the year. In addition, the leasing volume and the amount of new space coming onto the market were higher in Q2 than in the first three months of the year.

“Q2 2020 results have confirmed that our forecasts from the early days of the pandemic were correct. The warehouse and industrial market demonstrated strong resilience to Covid-19 disruptions. Its outperformance in the April-June period over the previous quarter is a positive sign in particular,” Kamil Szymański, Head of the Industrial Agency at Savills, said.

Poland’s total warehouse and industrial stock stood at 19.6 million sqm at the end of June 2020. According to Savills, more than 1 million sqm of new space was added to the market in H1 2020. Having adapted to new sanitary requirements, developers delivered over 40 percent more new space in the three months to June than in Q1. In the second quarter, however, work began on construction of only around 350,000 sqm, down by a third y/y and by half on the previous quarter. There is an increased risk aversion among developers. The share of speculative projects fell to 38 percent at the end of June. According to Savills report, Covid-19 resulted in a notable surge in short-term leases.

(WBJ)