Vacancy increases on Warsaw’s office market – EuropaProperty

In 2016, the Warsaw office market grew by 407,000 sqm of new space in 21 projects. The vacancy rate has grown by 1.9 pp on a yearly basis to 14.2 of total stock with central locations having lower occupancy rates than non-central locations. The Polish Office Research Forum has published its data on the Warsaw office market for Q4 2016.

At the end of Q4 2016, Warsaw’s modern office stock summed to 5,045,400 sqm. In 2016, the market grew by 407,000 sqm (21 projects). The largest office projects delivered to the market were: Warsaw Spire A (59,100 sqm), two buildings in Gdański Business Center II (49,000 sqm) and Q22 (46,400 sqm). In Q4 2016 five office schemes were completed: Biura Koszyki (13,900 sqm), The Tides (12,000 sqm), Poleczki Business Park Madrid (7,300 sqm), Nordkapp (4,200 sqm) and Trumpf Polska HQ (1,700 sqm).

At the end of 2016, modern space available for immediate lease amounted to 718,800 sqm, which constituted 14.2 percent of total stock, (a 0.4 pp decrease q-o-q and an increase by 1.9 pp compared with the analogical period in 2015). Vacancy rate in central locations accounted to 17.3 percent while in non-central locations it reached 12.9 percent.

From October through December 2016, gross demand for office space amounted to 222,400 sqm. Consequently, the total volume of transactions registered from the beginning of 2016 reached 754,900 sqm. The highest take-up levels were recorded in the Upper South zone (155,100 sqm), the South West zone (151,800 sqm) and the two central zones, i.e. Fringe (137,100 sqm) and Core (106,400 sqm).

In 2016, new leases accounted for 60 percent of all deals (of which pre-leases 17 percent), renewals made up 29 percent of total take-up and expansion accounted for 10 percent.

The largest lease transactions in 2016 included: a pre-let agreement of 22,000 sqm by BGŻ BNP Paribas in the new headquarter planned to be built in the intersection of Kasprzaka and Karolkowa streets, a renewal and expansion of 13,800 sqm by Publicis Groupe in Platinium Business Park, a 12,300 sqm lease renewal by confidential client from health sector in Park Postępu and a lease renewal and expansion of 8,300 sqm by confidential client from IT sector in Warsaw Financial Centre.