Coffee with Craig Show – daily CRE news covering the CEE region, Monday, May 30 with Winston Norman, Editor and Chief of EuropaProperty.com.
Poland’s office stock tops 12.5 million sqm
Cushman & Wakefield has published a summary of the first quarter of 2022 on the largest office markets in Poland. Here are the report’s findings.
In Q1 2022, new supply in regional city office markets amounted to more than 243,000 sqm in 16 projects, 48 percent of which were delivered in Katowice. Warsaw’s new supply in Q1 2022 came to close to 94,000 sqm delivered across five office projects.
The development pipeline in Poland’s largest city office markets stands at approximately 685,000 sqm. Most projects underway are expected to be completed in the next two years.
Office take-up in the first three months of 2022 hit 426,600 sqm, representing an uplift of 37 percent year-on-year. Of that total, most were transacted in Warsaw and were for large offices.
“Developers remain cautious about commencing new projects. This is largely due to uncertainty around the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the Polish economy, with the office market experiencing a significant rise in office construction and fit-out costs. Given the stock under construction, we expect a limited number of new projects coming onto the market in 2023-2025,” comments Katarzyna Lipka, Head of Consulting & Research, Cushman & Wakefield.
88 percent of investment deals in Romania’s office sector involve green buildings
88 percent of investment transactions in the office segment in Romania involve buildings with green certifications, according to CBRE Romania. This makes the office sector the most representative when it comes to buildings with sustainability standards, followed by logistics and retail.
“We see a clear trend in Europe of tenants being very interested and willing to pay a higher rent for environmentally friendly premises. Tenants have relocated from older buildings to green buildings in the same area of Bucharest and paid over 25 percent for a new premium office. This is reflective of a sustainability-driven relocation trend. We have seen several stable tenants that make relocation decisions driven by their new corporate sustainability goals,” commented Luiza Moraru, Head of Property Management CEE at CBRE.
“The attention on sustainability principles, in particular energy efficiency, has increased rapidly in the commercial property sector”, added Joanna Sinkiewicz, Head of Industrial & Logistics for Central and Eastern Europe at CBRE.
Panattoni prepares over 30,000 sqm for Signify
The construction of Panattoni Park Piła, with an area of more than 44,000 sqm, has only just started, but the park is already 90 percent leased. A total of 33,500 sqm is to be occupied by a logistics operator for Signify (formerly Philips Lighting). At the beginning of 2023, the company will move into its 33,500 sqm premises.
The project will feature advanced energy-saving and intelligent lighting systems based on Philips’ own Dynalite system, which is entirely in line with Industry 4.0 trends. “Modern lighting solutions are of crucial importance for the green changes taking place in the industrial real estate sector,” says Andrzej Spiesz, Development Director, Panattoni.
The facility is to be fitted with a modern lighting control system, it will be possible for CO2 emissions to be reduced by up to 274 tonnes per year. The tenant will also benefit from photovoltaic installations and other green technological features that will allow the facility to obtain BREEAM certification at the ‘Excellent’ level.
Spaceflow raises €8 million and aims for IPO
PropTech provider Spaceflow is announcing a new strategic partnership with Swedish investment group Hydda, which specializes in innovative technology in the real estate market and is leading Spaceflow’s Series A investment round with €8 million.
The funds raised will go primarily toward product development, building a sales team and consolidating positions in strategic markets in Scandinavia, the UK, Benelux and the DACH region.
”Our clients manage thousands of buildings and Spaceflow empowers them to provide the best possible experience for their customers – people living and working in their spaces. This collaboration with Hydda Group brings us deeper market knowledge and connections with other PropTech players,” comments Lukas Balik, co-founder and CEO of Spaceflow.
“Hydda is growing fast and according to plan and aims to become Europe’s largest PropTech group. Spaceflow is our first investment outside Scandinavia and fits perfectly into Hydda’s ecosystem of leading PropTech companies,” says Philip Göransson, Chief Commercial Officer at Hydda Group.
