Coffee with Craig Show – daily CRE news covering the CEE region – Wednesday, March 23 with Winston Norman Editor and Chief of EuropaProperty.com – Celebrating over 300 shows!!! Become a partner and reach over – 8,000 viewers weekly – 14,000 viewers on the Executive interviews.
TREI INCREASED DEVELOPMENT VOLUME TO C. €1.7 BILLION IN 2021
Trei Real Estate (“Trei”), an international developer specialising in residential and retail real estate, continued to expand its business successfully in 2021. As of 31 December 2021, the development portfolio had an aggregate value of €1.7 billion euros after growing by 40 per cent. Residential real estate makes up the bulk of the total with €1.5 billion, whereas retail real estate accounts for c. €200 million.
Pepijn Morshuis, the CEO of Trei Real Estate, commented on the year-end result: “The growth of our foreign activities is currently outpacing the business on our home market of Germany. Especially in the United States, we initiated numerous new developments last years, and in Poland, too, new projects are in preparation in addition to the developments already underway.”
At the same time, Trei’s developments in Poland are progressing on schedule. Pepijn Morshuis sees a lot of further potential in this country: “Last year, Poland’s residential property market broke every record. Demand for modern apartments is enormous, whereas the supply side still remains rather small-scale.”
Huge potential for further retail parks in Poland. Trei currently holds a portfolio of 39 Vendo Parks in Poland, the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. 29 of these assets are located in Poland. Since November, Trei has been developing some of its retail parks in Poland together with its joint venture partner Patron Capital Partners (“Patron”).
Matthias Schultz, the CFO of Trei Real Estate, elaborated: “Retail parks of the Vendo Park brand remain an important part of our strategy. Demand for retail parks has turned out to be stronger than expected, particularly in smaller Polish towns.”
CARREFOUR ROMANIA ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP FOR THE PROPERTY AND EXPANSION DEPARTMENTS
Carrefour Romania strengthens its Property and Expansion teams, in the context in which supporting its physical footprint remains a strategic objective in 2022, as a pillar for its omnichannel model.
Mihai Tomescu holds the position of Hypermarket Expansion Director, being in charge of managing the company’s expansion in the hypermarket format.
In parallel, Bogdan Jigman has joined the team as Property & Expansion Director for the Market, Express, Supeco formats, as well as for the Headquarters and Warehouses, being responsible for coordinating Carrefour Romania’s real estate portfolio and implementing the expansion strategy for medium and small formats.
“Strengthening Carrefour’s national footprint through all store formats, in a way that is continuously adapted to the market context, remains a priority for us, being an essential part of our omnichannel strategy. And for a strong real estate management strategy and expansion plan, we need a strong team in the property segment. I am confident that Mihai and Bogdan will take our vision further. I thank them for being with us and I wish them good luck in all their projects!”, said Julien Munch, CEO of Carrefour Romania.
MORE CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR POLAND’S WAREHOUSE SECTOR
In 2021, Poland’s warehouse market recorded another outstanding result. According to AXI IMMO, the most important highlights included a record-breaking volume of investment transactions, take-up, and space under construction. The total industrial stock at the end of December 2021 amounted to more than 25 million sqm, with the vacancy rate indicating only 3.72 percent.
“In 2021 yet again we have witnessed pushing the limits to a new record on the Polish warehouse market. We’ve recorded several spectacular lease transactions of over 100,000 sqm, where the e-commerce and logistics operators proved to be the most active players, and the boom in the market influenced new supply. From the second half of 2021, the growing costs of materials and contractors indirectly affect the increase in the asking rental rates,” says Anna Głowacz, Head of Industrial Agency, AXI IMMO.
E-commerce drives the warehousing market. As in the previous year, e-commerce and logistics operators’ accounted for over 50 percent of the total take-up.
According to developers’ there is 4.8 million sqm under construction (+152 percent y/y), most of which will be delivered to the market in 2022. Most of the new supply is expected to be delivered in Lower Silesia (823,000 sqm), Upper Silesia (780,000 sqm), Central Poland (770,000 sqm), Warsaw and its vicinity (698,000 sqm), and Poznań (558,000 sqm).
In 2022, the Polish warehouse market may face some challenges. The main factor that will affect the sector and the overall economy is the high inflation rate. An increase in the cost of materials and construction may contribute to extending the delivery date of new supply. We expect developers to quickly find a solution to this situation. The market will continue to be stimulated by the growth of e-commerce tenants and logistics operators. The trend will affect the optimization of delivery dates to end-users and the construction of regional distribution centres in former voivodeship cities. AXI IMMO expects the continuation of eco trends with meeting the assumptions and conditions of ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) and further green certification of warehouse buildings.