EUR 1.25 billion was invested in Polish real estate. Capital flowed mainly from Europe in offices

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In the first quarter of this year, EUR 1.25 billion was spent on commercial real estate in Poland. This represents a decrease of only 1.5% compared to the five-year average for the first quarters from 2017-2021. Offices have the largest share in the investment market, but the industrial and logistics segment also continues its good run. Capital flowed into Poland mainly from Europe, according to the latest CBRE report. Experts from the company indicate that the investment market shows moderate optimism, which manifests itself in investors’ safe choices.

– Good investment results from the beginning of the year fill with optimism. Capital flows to Poland at a comparable value to previous years. Investors’ attention is primarily focused on offices, but also on warehouses, which is a result of the dynamic development of the e-commerce industry. On the other hand, retail and hotel properties are less popular. However, this does not apply to all objects. The appetite for purchasing retail parks and food supermarkets remains at a high level. There is also a growing interest in the residential sector. In general, it can be said that investors are looking for safe and attractive products, but what is important, despite the pandemic on the market, there are still new players who expand the group of funds investing in Poland – says Przemysław Felicki, director in the capital markets department at CBRE.

Office sector with the biggest share in the investment market

In the first quarter of 2021, EUR 1.25 billion was invested in commercial real estate in Poland. A total of 32 transactions were concluded, whose investment volume reached a value similar to the sum of transactions from the last quarter of 2020. Additionally, this result was only 1.5% lower than the five-year average for the first quarters from 2017-2021, CBRE experts point out.

Most of the money invested in real estate in Poland at the beginning of the year went into offices – as much as 48% of the total amount. Office transactions totalled EUR 600 million. The good run of previous years, and especially of 2020, is continued by the industrial-logistics segment. As a result of the dynamic growth in online sales last year and the consequent increasing demand for logistics space, the position of logistics properties as safe and attractive investment products has been strengthened. In the first quarter of 2021, investors invested EUR 430 million in this sector.

Despite a decline in investor interest in certain retail formats, such as shopping centres, the appetite for buying retail parks and food supermarkets remains high. The value of the investment market in the retail segment reached almost 190 million euro. Residential real estate remains the smallest category, with an investment volume of €12 million. This translates into less than 1% share of this sector in the total commercial real estate turnover.

– The residential segment, despite its small share at the moment, attracts the attention of a growing number of investors. Especially if we take into account that this result does not include forward purchase transactions, i.e. residential buildings that have not yet been built. And their value is estimated at an additional several dozen million euros,” Przemysław Felicki comments.

Capital mainly from Europe

In the first months of 2021, most investment capital flowed into Poland from Europe (55%). A positive phenomenon that we observe on the investment market during the pandemic is the growing number of transactions with Polish capital and the increasing number of domestic players who cautiously invest their funds in smaller investments. Their share now amounts to 3% of the total market. The capital coming from North America, Africa and Asia is respectively 17%, 9% and 5% of the total investment volume.

 Source: CBRE