The Polish office real estate market in 2016 – sum-up
The year 2016 was characterized by the highest developers' activity in the history of the office real estate market in Poland. First and foremost, ca. 800 000 sq. m of the offices were commissioned, which constitutes one fourth bigger value in comparison to the previous year. The total office resources in the country exceeded 9 million sq. m. in 2016, whereas in Warsaw – 5 million sq. m – says Mateusz Polkowski, Director of Department of Market Research and Consultancy of JLL.
Preliminary sum-up of the Polish office real estate market in 2016 in accordance with JLL:
The year 2016 can be associated not only with a record-breaking amount of new office areas. Two towers – Warsaw Spire – and – Q22 – were commissioned last year and they have already fitted the Warsaw city structure. Except for the capital, other buildings of the total size amounting to ca. 400 000 sq. m were completed on the main office markets. The largest projects are: Business Garden I in Wrocław, Tryton Business House in Gdańsk, Maraton I&II in Poznań, University Business Park II in Łódź, Pegaz in Wrocław, C200 in Gdańsk and O3 Business Campus I in Krakow.
Although the demand in 2016 maintained at a very high level, the historical record from 2015 has not been beaten. However, the amount of the rented office areas in the previous year was higher than in 2014 (over 930 000 sq. m were rented till the end of September 2016, whereas over one million sq. m in the whole 2014). The year 2016 is the second best year due to the tenants’ activity in the history of the Polish market.
Forecasts for 2017
The beginning of the year is a good occasion to create different forecasts. According to Mateusz Polkowski, the developers do not slow the pace – there are currently ca. 1.4 million sq. m of new offices under construction. The biggest amount of areas is located in Warsaw, Krakow, Wrocław and Tricity. It is worth pointing out that Krakow is to exceed one million sq. m of office resources in 2017 as the second city, after the capital. Additionally, the highest office of northern Poland – Olivia Star – is to be commissioned in Tricity.
What is the year 2017 going to look like on the office real estate market in Poland? Forecasts by JLL: