Poland emerged as the top country in Europe for warehouse take-up during the second quarter of 2024, according to the latest report by Cushman & Wakefield.
Polish companies leased a record 1.76 million m2 of warehouse space, the highest quarterly leasing volume in Europe and the second time Poland has outpaced Germany. Large leases (20,000 to 130,000 m2) accounted for 56% of the total take-up in the second quarter.
The largest warehouse lease was in Wroclaw, where an international e-commerce platform leased an additional 126,000 m2. In Bydgoszcz-Torun, LX Pantos renewed and expanded its lease to 100,000 m2, while LPP Logistics leased 104,000 m2 of warehouse space near Bydgoszcz for online order fulfillment.
In H1, companies leased almost 2.7 million m2 warehouse space in Poland (+22%), with new leases and expansions accounting for 60% of the leasing volume (up from 57% in 2023), while the remaining 40% was for renewed contracts.
Retailers and e-commerce companies now account for 34% of net take-up, up from 31% in H1 2023, while logistics providers have seen their share decline from 36% to 22%.
Adrian Semaan, market analyst, Cushman & Wakefield, commented: ‘Looking ahead, demand is expected to be driven in the long term by the continued growth of e-commerce, the increasing adoption of ESG strategies and thereby the flight to quality, as well as nearshoring trends.’
In June 2024, the total stock of industrial space in Poland reached 33.52 million m2 (+9%), while 1.64 million m2 of modern warehouse space was delivered in H1.
Damian Kolata, partner, head of Industrial & Logistics/E-Commerce CEE, Cushman & Wakefield, added: ‘A similar volume is scheduled for completion in the second half of this year, signifying that Poland’s total industrial stock is firmly on course to exceed 35 million m2 in the near future.’
In Q2 2024, almost 786,000 m2 of new warehouse space was delivered in Poland, but 44% of this remained vacant, pushing total available warehouse space to 2.80 million m2. As a result, the overall vacancy rate rose to 8.3%, the highest level since September 2020.
In Q2 2024, work began on the construction of approximately 460,000 m2 of warehouse space, of which only 184,000 m2 were being built speculatively. This is a significant decrease from the previous quarter. As a result, the total development pipeline for warehouses in Poland is now 1.99 million m2.
Lower Silesia is the most active region for warehouse construction in Poland, with 568,000 m2 of projects currently underway. Of this, 40% is being developed for an international e-commerce platform in P3 Wroclaw in Katy Wroclawskie.
Monthly headline rents for big-box warehouses in H1 stayed at €3.60-6.50 per m2, while rents for SBU/city logistics projects remained at €5.00-7.50 per m2.
