High vacancy levels, limited development activity and a shifting demand structure point to a market still searching for balance after the rapid expansion of the previous decade. In the first quarter of 2026, Poland’s regional office markets recorded their weakest first-quarter leasing result since 2021. Savills’ report, “Office Market in Regional Cities, Q1 2026”, also shows that tenant activity fell by almost one-third year on year.
Key figures for Q1 2026 include:
121,500 sq m – total leasing volume, down 29% year on year
17.4% – average vacancy rate across eight regional cities
47,200 sq m – new supply delivered in Q1, more than in the whole of 2025
178,300 sq m – office space under construction, down 11% year on year
Total office stock in Poland’s eight largest regional cities stands at 6.76 million sq m, almost half a million sq m more than Warsaw’s office stock. The market remains highly concentrated. Kraków, with 1.85 million sq m, Wrocław, with 1.36 million sq m, and the Tricity, with 1.07 million sq m, together account for nearly two-thirds of the total regional office supply.
Leasing demand in the first quarter reached 121,500 sq m. This was the lowest first-quarter result recorded since the beginning of 2021 and represented a 29% decline year on year. The Tricity was the most active market, with 49,500 sq m leased, accounting for 41% of the total volume. It was followed by Wrocław, with 25,500 sq m, and Kraków, where demand reached 16,700 sq m.
The main sectors driving leasing activity were manufacturing, which accounted for 18% of transactions, business services with a 17% share, and IT with 13%. New leases represented 51% of the total volume, while renegotiations accounted for 37%.
“The Tricity performed very strongly in the latest report, but this should not be viewed solely through the lens of a single quarter. It is a market that has been consistently building its position for some time: it has a diversified tenant base, good access to talent and a quality-of-life advantage that genuinely matters in conversations with companies. That is why, even amid greater tenant caution, the Tricity continues to attract demand. It is not a risk-free market, but compared with the largest regional locations, it is closest to equilibrium,” says Piotr Skuza, Associate Director, Regional Manager, Office Agency, Savills.
The average vacancy rate across Poland’s regional office markets stands at 17.4%, equivalent to 1.18 million sq m of available space. The highest vacancy levels are recorded in Katowice, at 22.1%, and Wrocław, at 22.0%. High availability also persists in Łódź, at 19.6%, and Kraków, at 18.4%. The Tricity stands out positively, with 10.8% of office space awaiting tenants, as does Szczecin, where the vacancy rate is 7.9%.
“Kraków and Katowice show two different faces of the office market. Kraków is the largest market outside Warsaw and remains a natural choice for many large organisations, but its scale also means strong competition between buildings. Katowice, in turn, has undergone a major qualitative transformation in recent years and now offers an increasingly strong office product, but with the highest vacancy rate among large regional markets it must fight harder for every tenant decision. In both cities, we can see that companies no longer look only at space and address. They ask about space efficiency, access to employees, commuting, costs and whether the office will help bring people back to on-site work,” says Marcin Gawlik, Associate Director, Office Agency, Savills.
“Wrocław remains one of the most important office markets in the country, but the game is now being played according to different rules than a few years ago. With such a high level of available space, tenants are not making decisions under pressure. They are analysing costs, management quality, lease flexibility and whether the office actually reflects the way their teams work. Landlords therefore have to compete not only on address and building standard, but also on their ability to take care of the entire tenant experience,” says Dorota Kościelniak, Director, Office Agency, Savills.
Development activity remains at a historically low level. Less than 180,000 sq m of office space is currently under construction, 11% less than a year earlier and several times below levels seen in previous cycles. By comparison, between 2015 and 2019, the volume of office space under construction averaged more than 900,000 sq m.
Development activity is concentrated mainly in Poznań, where 72,900 sq m is currently under construction, and Kraków, with 50,400 sq m. Although 47,200 sq m of offices was delivered in the first quarter alone, more than in the whole of 2025, total new supply this year is expected to remain well below the long-term average.
“Today, no one in Poznań is leasing office space ‘just in case’. Decisions are cautious, carefully calculated and usually preceded by a long cost analysis. That is why the low leasing volume in the first quarter is not surprising, while the large amount of space under construction will be an important test. New projects must respond very precisely to companies’ needs: location, efficient layout, operating costs and flexible terms. In Poznań, a new building alone is not enough. What is, and will remain, crucial is matching space, costs and lease terms to the specific needs of companies,” comments Mateusz Jakubowicz, Associate, Regional Manager, Office Agency, Savills.
In the coming quarters, the pace at which existing vacancies are absorbed will be crucial. Limited new supply may support market stabilisation, but only if tenant activity gradually recovers.
