Poland to see record office delivery in 2013: DTZ

Real estate developers aim to deliver 340,000 to 350,000 m² of new office space in Poland next year - the highest annual figure in the market since 2000, DTZ has said.

Over 92,700 m² of office space was delivered in Warsaw during the first half of 2012 a further 130,000-140,000 sq m is scheduled for completion by the end of the year. DTZ's Property Times Poland estimates the 2012 total will come to between 220,000 and 230,000 m².

DTZ said that demand for office space remained stable and the vacancy rate increased slightly reaching 7.4% at the end of the first half of 2012. Prime asking rents in Warsaw did not change over H1 2012 and are at a level of EUR 25-27 per m² per month in the city centre and EUR 14-16 per m² per month in non-central locations.

Demand for office space in Warsaw in the first six months of 2012 remained stable when compared to the previous year. The take-up volume (leasing transactions excluding renegotiations) in H1 2012 reached almost 200,000 m2, just over half of the 405,000 m² taken up in 2011.

Similarly to 2010 and 2011, many occupiers decided to renegotiate their current lease contracts and the volume of such transactions in H1 2012 exceeded 95,000 m² (33% of the total take-up). Due to the high availability of pipeline supply scheduled for the next 12-18 months, pre-lets gained in popularity and accounted for 30% of the transaction volume, an increasing level compared to 21% in 2011 and 11% in 2010.

The total office stock in Warsaw reached almost 3.7 million m² following the completions in the first half of the year.