For the 23rd and 25th of October, Hotel Marriott has become a place of lively discussion about the state and future of Polish office market. What were the results of these two days?
There's no denying to the fact that in the next few years a record breaking amount of usable space will enter the Polish market. Data gathered by Colliers International mention even up to one million square meters till the end of 2014. In Cracow, Skanska alone plans to put into operation 30 000 sqm of space in Kapelanka 42 office building, while UBM wants to provide additional 14 000 sqm in Alma Tower. Warsaw is already preparing for 52 000 sqm in Echo Investment's Q22 and about 100 000 sqm in Ghelamco's Warsaw Spire. Developers emphasize, that it's one of the factors increasing both the leaseholders' activity and negotiation possibilities. In overall, they agree that the current market is definitely the leaseholder's property and the growing supply, bigger than what market can absorb, will translate to an increase in the percentage of vacancies and a decrease in the value of rents. In the meantime, one can hear anonymous voices saying that in the future the capitol can have even up to 16 percent of vacancies.
The participants also discussed the quick development of the BPO sector in Poland. The most popular cities for this particular brand seemed to be Cracow, Warsaw and Wrocław, but the interest of leaseholders in smaller cities, like Łódź, Tricity and even Kielce, was also noted. The issue of Polish competition in the fight for leaseholders from the sector of modern business services, i.e. Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic and Ukraine was also raised. Both the experts and the participants agreed, that these markets are highly competitive primarily due to high salaries, but not strong enough to cause the migration of companies renting spaces on the Polish market.
It's only a part of the issues raised during the event. Among the participants, one could've noticed experts, such as: Head of Market Research and Counselling Department for East-Central Europe in Jones Lang LaSalle Kevin Turpin, Director of Rent and Management of Real Estate Department in Skanska Property Poland Arkadiusz Rudzki, Head of the International Research Department in BNP Paribas Real Estate Christophe Pineu, Director in AIG/ Lincoln Dariusz Domański, Managing Director in Leaders for Business Services Sector's Association in Poland Paweł Panczyj, Head of Managing the Assets Portfolio Department in Tristan Capital Partners Karol Bartos, Director of Market Research Department in Eastern Europe from Colliers International Damian Harrington, Finance Director in Torus Marek Paliświat, Commercial Director in SwedeCenter Peter Chatfield and many other experienced experts from the sector.
The conference was organized by Nowy Adres S.A.