Up and down

Warsaw office market data still does not inspire a great deal of optimism. In 2002, a lot of space was filled by the owners of buildings (so-called owner-occupier projects). Most of the tenancy agreements were signed for office buildings outside the centre and, although the proportion of vacant space in the centre fell by a little over 15 per cent in the 4th quarter, this was mainly due to the completion of a small number of new projects The economic index, (particularly the GDP ratio which grew by 1.6 per cent in the 3rd quarter and inflation which stayed below 1 per cent), published by the Chief Central Statistical Office at the end of 2002, suggested the possibility of economic improvement in Poland. However, the unemployment rate tarnished the picture, with over 3 mln people remaining jobless at the end of the year, making it the worst such statistic since 1989. Despite this, given Poland's accession to the EU and the cyclical nature of market economies, we might expec