In the third quarter of the current year, as much as 161 500 sqm of office space has been put into operation, which has increased the overall volume to the level of 6,24 million sqm as stated by Colliers International.
With the end of September 2013, Warsaw's supply of office space has amounted to 4,07 million sqm , from which nearly 70 percent is located outside the city centre. In the third quarter, the biggest projects to be put into operation were: Miasteczko Orange (43 700 sqm, Południe-Zachód district), Wola Center (27 500 sqm, Zachód district) and Żoliborz One (8 700 sqm, Północ district).
In the meantime, the supply in the eight main regional cities has stabilized on the level of 2,1 million sqm. At this time, the biggest amount of space has been created in Poznań (14 700 sqm), Cracow (13 600 sqm) and Wrocław (13 300 sqm). Among the biggest projects, one can find Malta House (14 700 sqm, Poznań), Quattro Business Park C (12 200 sqm, Cracow), Lastadia (11 500 sqm, Szczecin) and the first phase of West House 1B (6000 sqm, Wrocław).
Demand
In the third quarter of the year, a demand of 184 600 sqm has been noted in Warsaw. Over a half of the transactions (54 %) were new deals, from which pre-let transactions made up for 37,3 percent of the total. The leaseholders were most active in Południe Górna (74 000 sqm), Zachód (26 900 sqm) and Południe Zachód districts(23 700 sqm). The biggest deals were signed by: Polkomtel (pre-let, 22 600 sqm, Konstruktorska 4), BZ WBK (pre-let, 11 800 sqm, Atrium 1), Sygma (renegotiation/ prolonging, 6 400 sqm, Trinity Park) and Sanofi-Aventis (renegotiation/ prolonging, 5 500 sqm, North Gate).
On the regional markets, the activity of the leaseholders has remained on the level of 65 000 sqm and 74 percent of this number was made by new deals. Office spaces were in highest demand in Katowice, Cracow and Poznań. According to Colliers, the biggest rent deals were: IBM in A4 Business Park (pre-let, 9 000 sqmm Katowice), Eurobank in Vratislavia Center (renegotiation, 6 100 sqm, Wrocław) and BPH in Avia office building (pre-let, 3 100 sqm, Cracow).
Vacancies and rents
At the end of the period described, the capitol's level of vacancies remained on the level of 10,9 percent, which is an increase in relation to the September of the previous year (8,1 percent). In the city centre, this index is on the level of 10,5 percent and outside the centre it's on the level of 11 percent. The most vacancies can be found in Południe-Zachód (13,6 %), Zachód (13,1 %) and Północ districts (12,5 %).
The lowest index of vacancies among the regional cities can be seen in Cracow (3,3 percent), while the highest can be noticed in Szczecin (23,1 percent) and Łódź (19,5 percent).
Rent rates have remained stable. In Warsaw, the primary price in the city centre were set on the level of 17 to 25 Euro/sqm/month, while outside the centre it was 12 to 16 Euro/sqm/month. In regional cities, the most expensive space can be found in Poznań (13 to 16 Euro/sqm/month) and Wrocław (11 to 16 Euro/sqm/month). The cheapest office spaces could be found in Łódź (11,5 to 13,5 Euro/sqm/month).
Predictions
Currently under construction remains over 1 million sqm of space. Developers are active the most in Warsaw ( 550 000 sqm). The biggest amount of offices in regional cities is being constructed in Cracow (129 200 sqm), Wrocław (88 500 sqm), Katowice (73 000 sqm) and Tricity (70 300 sqm).
In the fourth quarter of 2013, the supply of new office space will raise by about 150 000 sqm. About 43 % of this space will make its way onto the Warsaw's office market – says Paweł Skalba, Partner in Colliers International, Office Spaces Department. The biggest investments which are due to be completed in Warsaw are: Plac Unii (41 300 sqm) and Oxygen Park (8 900 sqm). In the coming quarter, the vacancies index will make another increase. Due to the relocation of the current leaseholders to newly created investments, the increase in vacancies will take place in older office locations. We predict, that in the coming months the rent rates for modern office space will make a small decrease – he adds.
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