POLAND Revetas to turn Polish offices into PRS

Residential

17 October 2022

Opr./edited by NN

The first project, B4B Meadows in Kraków, will comprise 435 apartments

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Revetas Capital is to convert its office landbank portfolio of around 90,000 sqm gla of potential space in three Polish cities into residential projects, as it enters the private rental sector.

Under the London-based investor’s plan, residences for up to 2,000 people should be developed in major university cities in Poland. According to the company, the decision has been taken in response to post-Covid market trends and the increasing demand in the sector.

The seed pipeline includes four projects owned by Revetas already through its managed funds in Warsaw, Kraków and Katowice. This would lay the foundation for an institutional PRS platform on a larger scale, while an additional pipeline reviewed.

Our approach is currently focused on logistics and industrial, for which we launched several key projects, as well as PRS and hospitality across Europe, based on solid demand drivers. In Poland, for example, the estimated 1.5 mln apartment shortage represents strong organic demand, underpinned by a 38 mln+ population, a growing urbanisation rate of 60 pct vs. 72 pct of the average in the rest of the EU, one of the highest overcrowding ratios across Europe, and increasing demand for rental versus buying. Such factors require a highly adaptable investment focus, with a deep understanding of local markets from our 110 team of professionals on the ground. The Polish PRS market offers attractive rental yields to investors of app. 5% pct compared to 1.3–3.3 pct in major Western European cities. Revetas Capital is uniquely positioned to deliver this PRS portfolio as an experienced, vertically-integrated investor and developer of real estate Europe-wide, successfully managing institutional capital over the last 25 years.
Eric Assimakopoulos, a founding partner of Revetas Capital

The first project is to B4B Meadows close to the Bonarka for Business (B4B) office complex in Kraków, which Revetas also owns through the acquisition of its Hungarian developer TriGranit in Q2 2018. It will comprise 435 apartments operated under Revetas’ ‘Live-Work-Play’ concept. This development is currently going through the permitting process. Other projects in Kraków, Katowice and Warsaw are also in the pre-permitting and design stages.