Coffee with Craig Show – daily CRE news covering the CEE region, Thursday, August 25, with Winston Norman, Editor and Chief of EuropaProperty.com.
Prime Kapital delivers its first resi project in Romania
Property developer Prime Kapital has delivered four out of five apartment buildings in its first residential project in Bucharest. The company has invested €47.8 million in the project that will feature 458 apartments.
The last apartment building in Marmura Residence will be completed in the third quarter of this year and will mark the completion of Prime Kapital’s first residential investment in the country. Meanwhile, the developer and its joint-venture partner MAS plan to start 10 new residential projects with over 14,000 homes that will have an investment budget of around €1.1 billion.
Maggie Kitshoff, Partner Office and Residential at Prime Kapital, pointed out that the residential complex was completed despite challenges posed by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Leasing activity was driven by IT companies in the second quarter of 2022
Prague Research Forum announced office market figures for the second quarter of 2022.
Total modern office stock in Prague reached 3.75 million sqm at the end of June 2022. During Q2 2022, a total of 22,700 sqm of new modern office space was completed in Prague.
The main office development delivered was Dock In Five (20,500 sqm), developed by Crestyl, which was completed in Prague 8.
By the end of the year, the PRF expects six more projects with a total office space of 28,800 sqm to be completed. Over 216,000 sqm of office space was in the active construction phase at the end of the second quarter, with planned completion between 2022 and 2024.
The highest gross take-up in the second quarter was recorded in Prague 4 (40%), followed by Prague 8 (18%) and Prague 1 (17%). The highest demand for offices was realized by IT companies (33%), the Pharmaceuticals sector (11%) and the Finance sector (8%).
Prime rents in the second quarter of 2022 increased again and is in the range of EUR 25.00-25.50 per sqm per month in the city centre, EUR 16.50-18.50 per sqm per month in the inner and EUR 14.00-16.00 per sqm per month in the outer parts of the city.
Poland’s residential sector sees significant drop in demand
According to JLL’s latest residential report, in the second quarter, a total of 9,200 new apartments were sold in Poland’s six largest markets, 11.7 percent less than in the previous quarter and as much as 53 percent down on the same period in 2021. The drop in sales is mainly due to higher mortgage interest rates and tighter credit rating regulations. Despite the reduced interest in purchasing flats in the market, housing prices continued to rise.
Aleksandra Gawrońska, Director, Head of Residential Research JLL, commented. “Compared to the first quarter of this year, the average price for flats introduced to the market in Q2 2022 has increased. In the case of Wrocław, it was as much as 26.6 percent. A similar situation occurred in Kraków, where the average price of these flats was 19.3 percent higher than the previous quarter.”
“Developers have also tried to ensure that they would be able to sell some of their new development projects on existing terms, mainly out of concern regarding the risk that buyers could resign from buying a flat, which they had previously committed to if market conditions were to deteriorate in the future,” comments Kazimierz Kirejczyk, Executive Director, Residential Advisory, JLL.
Panattoni acquires site for new park in Żary near German border
Panattoni is launching its latest project in Western Poland, close to the border with Germany. Panattoni Park Żary will comprise 15,000 sqm, of which 8,000 sqm is to be built as a BTS project. This has already been leased by an international producer of polyurethane foam for the furniture industry. The company will begin operations in its new premises in the second quarter of 2023. The project is being built to qualify for BREEAM environmental certification at the ‘Excellent’ level.
“Once again, a company operating in several European markets has recognised the value of operating in Lubuskie province, which has become a hive of development in Western Poland,” insists Maciej Zawada, the BTS Development Senior Manager at Panattoni. “
We are also happy to enter into further fruitful cooperation with the local authorities in the region, at the district, county and city levels. We need to take full advantage of the attractiveness of this location and help drive its further growth,” adds Marek Foryński, the BTS Managing Director of Panattoni.
