Warsaw office take-up up 30% in Q1 2015 y/y - report

Gross take-up in Q1 2015 in the Warsaw office market amounted to 170,000 sqm which is 30 percent above the level registered in Q1 2014, according to data published by the Polish Office Research Forum. The strongest leasing activity occurred Upper South zone (almost 63,000 sqm). In two central zones 51,000 sqm was leased. The capital’s two central zones (CBD and CBD fringe) recorded a significant increase in vacancies over the past year, from 10.9 percent at the end of Q1 2014 to 15.5 percent at the end of March this year. Meanwhile, vacancy rate in non-central zones decreased from 12.9 percent last year to 12.4 percent in the first quarter of this year. In Q1 2015, over 86,000 sqm of office space was completed in Warsaw, out of which approximately 63 percent within the buildings located outside the city center. The total modern office stock in Warsaw amounted to 4,477,000 sqm in March 2015. The Polish Office Research Forum (formerly known as Warsaw Research Forum) is composed of representatives of Poland’s seven leading real estate consultancies: CBRE, Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield, DTZ, JLL, Knight Frank and Savills. The aim of PORF’s report is to standardize indices published through collection and comparison of quarterly data.