Poznań is the only office market in Poland to see its vacancy rate fall

According to “Office Occupier: Office Market in Poznań in Q1-Q3 2020”, a report published by real estate advisory firm Cresa Poland, the vacancy rate stood at 13.3 percent at the end of Q3 2020, down by 1.2 pp on the second quarter. It is the only office market in Poland to have recorded a quarterly fall in vacancies.

“The capital of the Greater Poland region offers a vast array of modern office spaces and stable rental rates. These are major advantages that are likely to attract more tenants and encourage those present here to remain in the city. After a phase of rapid growth, Poznań is now moving forward towards equilibrium, evidenced by positive absorption in the third quarter amid a lack of new supply and a quarter-on-quarter decrease in its vacancy rate,” says Artur Sutor, Partner, Head of Office Department at Cresa Poland.

At the end of September 2020, Poznań’s office stock totalled 579,900 sqm, up by 4.5 percent year-on-year. As at the end of the first half of the year, no new office building was delivered to the Poznań market in the third quarter. In addition to the pending development of another phase of Skanska’s Nowy Rynek, the city will also see the construction of Andersia Silver, which will be added to the complex of office buildings in the vicinity of Krakowska, Andersa, and Królowej Jadwigi streets.

Leasing activity totalled 24,500 sqm in January-September, representing a 4.7 percent decrease on the same period last year. New leases accounted for most of the transaction volume (54%), while expansions and renegotiations made up 23 percent and 22 percent of total office take-up, respectively.

The largest office deals in Q1-Q3 2020 in Poznań included: a pre-let lease by Rockwool in Nowy Rynek D (6,000 sqm), an expansion in Business Garden Poznań B6 by GSK (3,400 sqm) and a new lease in Business Garden Poznań II signed by PKO BP (1,600 sqm).

“Absorption reached 7,200 sqm in Q3 2020. Total absorption was, however, negative in the first nine months of 2020 and amounted to -880 sqm,” says Iga Kraśniewska, Research Manager at Cresa Poland.

Asking rents range between  €12.5–15.5/sqm/month in Poznań’s city centre, and  €11–14,5/sqm/month outside the city centre.