In the first quarter of this year, €1.25 billion was spent on commercial real estate in Poland. This reflects a decrease of only 1.5 percent compared to the five-year average for the first quarters of 2017-2021. Offices have the largest share in the investment market, but the industrial and logistics segment is also continuing its streak. The capital investment came to Poland mainly from Europe, according to the latest CBRE report. The company’s experts indicate that there is moderate optimism in the investment market, which is reflected in the safe choices of investors.
“Good investment results at the beginning of the year indicate optimism. The inflow of capital that came to Poland is of a comparable value to previous years. Investors’ attention is attracted primarily by offices, but there is also interest in warehouses, generated as a result of the dynamic development of the e-commerce industry. On the other hand, the retail and hotel real estate sectors have become less popular, however, this does not apply to all facilities. The appetite for the purchase of retail parks and grocery supermarkets remains high. There is also a growing interest in the residential sector. Generally, it can be said that investors are looking for safe and attractive products, but importantly, despite the pandemic, new players continue to appear on the market, expanding the group of funds investing in Poland,” said Przemysław Felicki, Director in the Capital Markets Department at CBRE.
The office sector with the largest share in the investment market
In the first quarter of 2021, €1.25 billion was invested in commercial real estate in Poland. In total, 32 transactions were concluded, the investment volume of which reached a value similar to the sum of transactions in the last quarter of 2020. In addition, this result was only 1.5 percent lower than the five-year average for the first quarters of 2017-2021, CBRE experts indicate.
Most of the money invested in real estate in Poland at the beginning of the year, as much as 48 percent of the total amount, went to offices. Office transactions totalled €600 million. The industrial and logistics segment has continued its good streak from previous years, and in particular from 2020. As a result of last year’s dynamic growth in online sales, and as a consequence of the growing demand for logistics space, the position of logistics real estate as a safe and attractive investment product has strengthened. In the first quarter of 2021, investors spent around €430 million in this sector.
Despite the decline in investors’ interest in some retail formats, such as shopping centres, the appetite for shopping in retail parks and grocery supermarkets remains high. The value of the investment market in the retail segment has reached almost €190 million. The smallest category is still residential real estate with an investment volume of €12 million. This translates into a less than 1 percent share of this sector in the total commercial real estate turnover.
“The housing segment, despite its small share at the moment, attracts the attention of an increasing number of investors. This is particularly noteworthy if we take into account that this result does not include forward purchase transactions, i.e. residential buildings that have not yet been built. Their value is estimated at additional tens of millions of euros,” commented Przemysław Felicki.
The investment capital mainly comes from Europe
In the first months of 2021, the majority of investment capital came to Poland from Europe (55 percent). A positive phenomenon that we have observed on the investment market during the pandemic is the growing number of transactions involving Polish capital and the increasing number of domestic players who carefully invest their funds in smaller investments. Their share is now 3 percent of the total market. The investment capital from North America, Africa and Asia accounts for 17 percent, 9 percent and 5 percent of the total investment volume, respectively.
