In 2017, the industrial market continued to develop at a high level. The intense activity among developers, who delivered over 2.3 million sqm to the market, and among tenants who leased nearly 4.6 million sqm, led to another record for both sides – according to the latest report by Colliers International.
In 2017, the largest share of industrial space (approx. 460,000 sqm) was delivered to the Warsaw market. As a result, at the end of the year, the total supply in the three Warsaw zones amounted to over 3.5 million sqm. In second place, both in terms of new supply in 2017 and the size of the market, is Upper Silesia. With 408,000 sqm of industrial space, total industrial stock reached over 2.5 million sqm at the end of the year. Other markets where developers showed strong activity are: Poznań (almost 212,000 sqm of new space), Central Poland (approx. 207,000 sqm) and Wrocław (almost 162,000 sqm).
Tenants’ preferences
In terms of demand, Warsaw is the leader among industrial markets – tenants have leased over 1 million sqm there – while Central Poland has a similar result. The vacancy rate declined in both regions – from 6.4% to 6.1% in Warsaw, and from 2% to 0.3% in the Łódź region (the lowest in Poland). Upper Silesia with almost 940,000 sqm leased is in the third place, and the vacancy rate has decreased as well.
“In all three regions, companies from the e-commerce sector had a large share in demand. In Central Poland, tenants from this industry even dominated the leasing of warehouse space. Distribution companies were also very active in Mazovia, and production companies in the Katowice region,” said Maciej Chmielewski, Senior Partner at Colliers International, Director of Industrial and Logistics Agency.
Constant and new points
Over 1.3 million sqm of industrial space is currently under construction in Poland, of which most is in the Upper Silesia – approx. 398,000 sqm, in Warsaw – 227,000 sqm and in Central Poland – 240,000 sqm. These locations will still enjoy the greatest interest among tenants and developers, but the increase in the activity of both groups is also visible in Western Poland thanks to the S3 highway.
According to Colliers International, in 2018 we can expect further development of smaller industrial markets such as Białystok and Kielce. In Białystok, Panattoni is set to build three warehouses within one industrial park totalling 40,000 sqm.
“3PL, e-commerce and retail will hold dominant positions among sectors. Access to qualified labour and the proximity of academic centres will remain decisive factors in choosing locations for warehouses,” underlined Tomasz Kasperowicz, Senior Partner at Colliers International, Director of Industrial and Logistics Agency.
In 2018, we will observe increased interest in BTS projects (build-to-suit) or even BTO (build-to-own).
