Short and bitter-sweet

Short-term contracts have become something of a fixture over the last few years. According to CBRE, over the last three quarters the total warehouse space in Poland leased for short periods of time (six months or less) constituted 11 pct of all contracts. For example, in the first quarter of this year warehouse tenants leased more than 70,000 sqm on a short term basis compared to the total of 640,000 sqm leased. However, the real amount is probably under-represented, since this data does not include most of the companies that do not report short-term contracts to the agencies that monitor the market. The boom in short-term contracts started during the downturn, when owners were looking for ways to tackle vacancy. “In 2008 or 2009 the vacancy rate came to a dozen or per cent of the total and tenant activity was very weak. Short term transactions were an additional cash injection. The demand for them was mostly due to tenants’ reluctance