The logistics sector of Hungary is booming with foreign investors continuing to be optimistic about the market outlook. The latest evidence of this positive sentiment is a major real estate deal made recently between the Belgian Weerts Group and Erste Real Estate with the assistance of VLK Cresa property consultant. The Belgian developer purchased a 30-hectares land near Ecser, adjacent to the M0 motorway where it is to develop a 120,000 sqm warehouse park.
The Liège-based Weerts Group is a family-owned company active in 3 sectors: contract logistics, real estate, and motorsport. Its contract logistics business is geographically located in Belgium and serves large clients including Audi, Mondelez and BoshSiemensHausgeräte. The company’s real estate activities (which include industrial, office and residential) occur in Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Hungary, and Romania. Fans of motorsports are familiar with the group as it owns WRT which has gained a worldwide reputation as one the leading GT customer racing outfits.
Weerts Group is currently building ca. 250,000 sqm on various locations in Belgium, Germany, and Hungary, and have secured a pipeline for another circa 300,000 sqm. The company’s first investment in this area in Hungary is a 46,000 sqm big box project in Nagytarcsa, for which construction is ongoing and which will be delivered in Q1 2021. The acquisition of the Ecser-plot, where Weerts Gropus plans the development of a 120,000 sqm logistics warehouse park, is part of our strategy to continue and accelerate our growth in this area. Its development projects in Hungary are the largest logistics investment of the company outside Belgium.
“The Ecser investment is a testimony to our group’s long-term commitment to Hungary. Since the beginning of our presence in the country, we have been impressed with the quality of the infrastructure, and the pro-business approach taken by the various public authorities. We strongly believe that the East-Budapest region, with its proximity to the airport, great road infrastructure and availability of skilled labour is the best development area for this type of property in Hungary”, says Pascal Weerts, CEO of Weerts Group.
“This is already our second major deal in Ecser. In April, we sold a 57-hectares plot where Jysk retail chain is developing its new local logistics center. We are proud to cooperate with two esteemed multinational companies and support their expansion in Hungary,” commented Andre Gégény, CEO of Erste Real Estate.
“We are witnessing a continuous interest for our Ecser-property, where we still own an 88-hectares plot. We hope to find buyers soon given the excellent location of the plot and the current outstanding performance of the Hungarian logistics sector”, added Melitta Molnár, regional asset manager at Erste Real Estate.
“The Hungarian logistics property market is booming despite the pandemic, and the recent surge in e-commerce is expected to create further demand for warehouse developments. Our optimism is justified by such logistics developments as Weert Group’s in Ecser as the logistics sector provides the blood circulation for the economy. The Erste-Weerts deal signals the optimism of logistics developers. Investors expect that the pandemic will cause a temporary downturn and the economy will bounce back fast”, says Péter Takács, VLK Cresa partner.
