Worst result on regional office markets in 5 years

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In 2020, 393 thousand sq m of new space was delivered to the regional office market, which, due to the pandemic, is the lowest value in five years. The leader is invariably Kraków, where 140 thousand sq.m. of modern office space was created – according to the latest CBRE report. Experts of the company indicate that the last year passed on the regional office market under the sign of negotiating contracts and close cooperation between leaseholders and owners. This year, offices in the regions may grow by another 360 thousand sq m. Increased caution and difficulties in obtaining financing will translate into fewer projects.

– As the pandemic has unfolded and the threat to many industries has grown, we have seen an increased willingness of building owners to cooperate with tenants reflected in an increase in landlords’ flexibility in the negotiation process. Tenants have become less certain about the future, and as a result have begun to place greater emphasis on the ability to flexibly adjust the size of leased space. This in the future may induce developers to increase the flexibility of space allocation in buildings – says Kamil Tyszkiewicz, head of regional markets at CBRE.

In 2020, 140 thousand sq m of new offices were built in Kraków. The vacancy level was almost 14%, which is an increase of more than 3 pp. compared to 2019. In total, the capital of Małopolska has 1.6 million sq m of office space and almost 120 thousand sq m is under construction.

Growth despite the pandemic

In 2020, 393 thousand sq m of new space was delivered to the regional office market. The leader invariably turned out to be Kraków (over 140.7 thousand sq m), which grew, among others, by the Unity Centre complex. A record volume of space was put into use in Katowice (over 61,3 thousand. sq m), for which mainly the Face 2 Face complex is responsible. On the third place there is Tricity, where over 60,2 thousand square metres were added. In Wrocław offices grew by 58,400 sq.m., and in Łódź by over 50,800 sq.m. Definitely smaller increases in workspace were noted in Poznań (18,300 sq.m.) and Szczecin (3,400 sq.m.).

More and more new contracts

In Q4 2020, demand in the regional market amounted to 131.7 thousand sq m, which is significantly below the pre-pandemic level. However, an increase in the share of new contracts (58% of demand) was noted compared to previous quarters. For the year as a whole, take-up amounted to almost 590,000 sq m, down 15% on the previous year. Absorption despite the pandemic in all regional markets except Lublin was positive, with 135.4 thousand sq m of space absorbed. This figure is well below the increase in supply, resulting in an increase in vacancy to 12.7%. The highest vacancy level is currently observed in Łódź (16.3%) and the lowest in Szczecin.

The largest leases signed at the end of 2020 were for Allegro, which chose as its new headquarters building D of the Nowy Rynek complex in Poznań, where it leased 26,000 sq m. A record was also set on the Katowice office market, where ING Technology decided to move its office to the Global Office Park complex. The size of the contract is 16.6 thousand. sq.m.

Offices in the regions are taken over by IT companies

A significant increase in the share of the IT sector in demand was recorded in 2020. As many as 8 agreements for space larger than 10 thousand sq m were signed, while in 2019 there were only 3 such agreements. In Poznań and Wrocław, this sector was responsible for more than half of the total demand – 53% and 57% respectively. The public sector also recorded growth.

Source: CBRE