Transaction volumes in Poland set a new record at around EUR 4.5 bn for 2006, the latest edition of the Warsaw City Report issued by global advisor Jones Lang La Salle said. Office vacancy reached an all time low of 5.4% whilst lagged construction activity is now booming in Non-Central districts. 'Strong demand for office space coupled with limited office completions in the recent years resulted in record decrease of vacancy in all Warsaw submarkets. At the moment we are observing increased rental levels especially in the most popular office locations such as the City Centre and Mokotów. Non-Central locations this year will be followed by significantly increased development activity', said Anna Kot, head of the Agency Leasing and Tenant Representation teams at Jones Lang LaSalle.
Transaction volumes in Poland set a new record at around EUR 4.5 bn for 2006, the latest edition of the Warsaw City Report issued by global advisor Jones Lang La Salle said. Office vacancy reached an all time low of 5.4% whilst lagged construction activity is now booming in Non-Central districts. 'Strong demand for office space coupled with limited office completions in the recent years resulted in record decrease of vacancy in all Warsaw submarkets. At the moment we are observing increased rental levels especially in the most popular office locations such as the City Centre and Mokotów. Non-Central locations this year will be followed by significantly increased development activity', said Anna Kot, head of the Agency Leasing and Tenant Representation teams at Jones Lang LaSalle.
Retail developers are looking for development opportunities and sites driven by the favourable economic situation and significant occupier demand. Commenting on that sector, Anna Wysocka, Associate Director at Jones Lang LaSalle's Retail Agency said: 'Development activity in Warsaw has slowed down for the past several months which was caused by such factors as planning restrictions for large scale retail or the high competition among developers caused by the high retail space density in Warsaw. During the last six months only one shopping centre was opened in Warsaw, which was Zlote Tarasy.Currently there are several projects in the pipeline'.
2006 was also a spectacular year for the industrial market, especially in terms of the number and size of lease transactions in the industrial sector. 'Apart from Warsaw, Silesia, Poznan, Central Poland and Wroclaw remained the most popular locations in Poland in respect of leasing activity and those regions also have considerable development potential due to the current and proposed location of highways', added Beata Hryniewska, Head of Industrial & Logistics at Jones Lang LaSalle.
Tomasz Trzóslo, Head of Investment at Jones Lang LaSalle concluded: '2006 was a fantastic year in terms of the number and volume of transactions, especially in the office sector. There were a lot of spectacular transactions, including the sales of Rondo 1, the Metropolitan, Warsaw Trade Tower, Europolis office portfolio and Wilniowy Business Park. The market has matured, with the yield gap between Central and Western Europe now closed.'