According to “Office Occupier: Office Market in Poznań”, a report published by real estate advisory firm Cresa Poland, total take-up reached 63,500 sqm, up by 55 percent on the previous year and 4 percent above the annual average for 2015-2019. Last year new leases dominated the transaction volume at 67 percent, followed by renegotiations (23 percent), expansions (9.5 percent) and owner-occupation (0.5 percent).
“Last year’s developments had a very limited impact on the stability of the Poznań office market as regards vacancy rates, new supply volumes and rental rates. Allegro’s decision to lease as much as 26,000 sqm of office space in Nowy Rynek D to accommodate the firm’s continued growth and ensure operational efficiency was a very positive sign for the market. This deal was a major contributor to last year’s leasing volume, which was over 50 percent higher than that posted a year earlier. We anticipate that occupier demand for office space will continue unabated in the coming quarters, but developers will remain cautious about commencing new projects in Poznań and wait until the market recovers, which is expected to happen once the pandemic situation is brought under control,” says Artur Sutor, Partner, Head of Office Department at Cresa Poland.
At the end of December 2020, Poznań’s total office stock amounted to 582,900 sqm, up by 3.2 percent over the last 12 months. The capital of Greater Poland is currently the sixth-largest regional city office market in Poland. The fourth quarter of 2020 saw only one office building delivered to the market: Ataner’s Towarowa 39 (3,000 sqm). The development pipeline includes Nowy Rynek D and Andersia Silver.
In 2020, total take-up reached 63,500 sqm, up by 55 percent on the previous year and 4 percent above the annual average for 2015-2019. Last year new leases dominated the transaction volume (67 percent), while renegotiations and expansions made up 23 percent and 9.5 percent of total office take-up, respectively. Owner-occupation accounted for 0.5 percent. In Q4 new leases accounted for the largest share of the leasing activity at 73 percent, followed by renegotiations and expansions which made up 23 percent and 4 percent of all deals, respectively.
The largest office deals in 2020 in Poznań included: pre-let leases by Allegro (26,000 sqm) and Rockwool (6,000 sqm) in Nowy Rynek D and an expansion in Business Garden Poznań B6 by GSK (3,400 sqm).
“Allegro’s pre-let for 26,000 sqm in Nowy Rynek D, developed by Skanska, accounted for more than 40 percent of last year’s transaction volume in Poznań. It was also the largest new leasing deal of 2020 on Poland’s regional city office markets,” says Iga Kraśniewska, Research Manager at Cresa Poland.
Absorption reached 4,400 sqm in the fourth quarter of 2020, lower by 63 percent than that witnessed last year. However, due to new supply constraints, the total absorption level for 2020 climbed to nearly 3,500 sqm.
The city’s vacancy rate stood at 13 percent at the end of last December, up by 2.2 pp on year-end 2019 and up by a mere 0.3 pp in the third quarter of 2020.
Asking rents range between €12.5–16/sqm/month in Poznań’s city centre, and €11–14,5/sqm/month outside the city centre.
