The latest market report from Jones Lang LaSalle shows that the total modern office stock in the key regional markets of Poland, that is Kraków, Wrocław, Katowice, Poznań, Tri-City and Łódź, was 1,820,000 square meters, of which almost half, 45%, was in Kraków and Wrocław.
Approximately 215,000 square meters of new office space was added to the markets listed above, which is comparable to 2009 with around 227,000 square meters coming to the market.
‘We noticed an increase in corporate demand in all major office markets over 2010. Some 230,000 square meters was leased in regional markets, with Kraków and Wrocław clearly taking a lead in respect of occupier activity. Take up was generated by both newcomers, including IBM in Wrocław and Sony in Tri-city, and expanding companies already operating in these cities such as Motorola and Capgemini in Kraków,’ said Mateusz Polkowski, senior research analyst at Jones Lang LaSalle.
Office buildings totaling 238,000 square meters were under construction across major regional office markets, with construction activity most pronounced in Wrocław, Kraków and Tri-City. This excluded a variety of projects whose construction started and was subsequently put on hold, the report adds.
The biggest office projects being currently developed in Poland include Sky Tower in Wrocław, Andersia Business Centre in Poznań and Oliva Gate in Gdańsk. New, ‘secondary’ office locations in Poland are also pro-active in respect of preparing office accommodation for occupiers, most notably BPO and SSC type of tenants.
The report also says that the first true modern office building in Szczecin, namely Oxygen (14,000 m2), was completed by Echo Investment in the second half of 2010.
As at the end of 2010, vacancy rates remained stable in Wrocław, Tri-City and Katowice, averaging 2.8%, 11.2% and 16.8% respectively. Slight upward pressures were registered in Kraków, Łódź and Poznań with a vacancy rate at 12.1%, 21.8% and11.9% in the fourth quarter, up from 10.7%, 20.0% and 8.0% in the third quartrer.
The slight increase resulted from a delivery of new office buildings in 2010, which to a great extent remained vacant, such as Vinci Office Center in Kraków, Francuska Office Centre A & B in Katowice, and Sterlinga Business Center and University Business Park I in Łódź.
The office vacancy in Poland ranging in most markets between 10 to 20% provides a reasonable choice of accommodation for office occupiers, an important factor for BPO and SSC centres amongst others, it also points out.
Wrocław with a vacancy ratio of less than 3% is unique in this respect, and this undersupply of office space triggers new development on this market. Major pipeline office provision includes: Green Towers I, Sky Tower and Wojdyła Business Park phase II.
Prime headline rents currently range from €11 to 13.5 per square meter per month in Łódź, to €15 square meters per month in Kraków, Wrocław and Poznań. ‘We expect slight upward pressures on the headline rents in 2011 in most regional markets,’ it concluded.
