2015 to be a record year?

Even though the 1.1 mln sqm of warehouse space completed in 2014 was a clear improvement on 2013 – and 2015 could beat that and be a record year. Almost 690,000 sqm was under construction at the end of Q4 (70 pct of which is already leased), which taking into consideration the current market activity allows us to think that this year could finish with another good result.

Speculative projects are coming back into favour, however, and there will still be a few of these. I would estimate that they will account for 5–10 pct of the total supply. The return to the development of such projects is result of the low levels of vacancy and the robust health of the Polish warehousing market (now the most stable in Central and Eastern Europe). The health of the market is attracting investors and developers looking for logistics and distribution centres to serve as their central warehouses for the CEE region. Meanwhile, another group is looking for production facilities, particularly in the special economic zones in order to lower their production costs.

The demand in 2015 should at least remain at last year’s level, 2.5 mln sqm, even though I would hazard a guess that it might just exceed this. The industries that will be particularly active this year include the logistics sector, e-commerce and production in general. It should be borne in mind that the general condition of the market is reflected in the operations and results in its individual sectors. Therefore at this time we can only estimate the figures this year will finish with.