Poland high demand across the regions

Kraków was the clear standout. Around 270,000 sqm were leased there – an all-time high for the city. Yes, 63 pct of the deals were renewals, but even so, the sheer volume shows just how busy tenants are and how grown-up Kraków’s office market has become. Wrocław also clocked a record year, with roughly 180,000 sqm taken up.

That said, demand at this level is starting to bump into a hard limit: there simply isn’t much large, top-quality space available in the best locations. New supply over the year was the lowest seen in the past 20 years – just 20,500 sqm. Development activity is also muted, with only about 221,000 sqm under construction, mostly in Poznań and Kraków.

Over the past twelve months, Kraków has started to look more and more like Warsaw. As in the capital, the market is clearly splitting in two: rents are rising in the best, well-located buildings, while older offices on the outskirts are flat or even getting cheaper. Modern space is in very short supply, so companies looking to move need to plan well ahead.

We expect the gap between Kraków and the other regional markets to widen further in 2026 – pretty much across the board, from rents to demand and the pipeline of new projects.
Dorota Gruchała, head of office in Kraków at JLL Poland

Demand: a strong finish to the year

In Q4 2025 alone, lease agreements covered around 250,000 sqm – nearly a third of the year’s total demand. Both the full-year and Q4 figures were record-breaking.

Interest in new leases and expansions came back into play, making up 48 pct of market activity. Still, many of the biggest deals (in the 10,000–20,000 sqm range) were renegotiations. One of the headline examples was Shell renewing roughly 23,000 sqm in Kraków.

By sector, the most active tenants were IT firms (over 133,000 sqm), professional services (around 125,000 sqm) and manufacturing companies (about 120,000 sqm).

Supply: historically low

At the start of 2026, Poland’s regional cities offered a combined 6.72 mln sqm of office space. As expected, new supply hit a historic low. With space being taken up more slowly, some developers chose to delay starting new schemes and instead focused on fully leasing projects they had already completed.

As mentioned earlier, only 20,500 sqm were delivered over the past year. Five small office buildings were completed in Kraków, Poznań and Lublin, the largest being Kraków’s Stella Office at just under 10,000 sqm.

JLL expects only around 95,000 sqm of new office space to come to market in 2026 – and almost a third of that consists of projects that have already been delayed. A return to pre-2024 volumes looks very unlikely.

At the beginning of 2026, 221,300 sqm were under construction, mainly in Poznań (75,200 sqm), Kraków (59,700 sqm) and Katowice (27,800 sqm). The average size of upcoming buildings is relatively modest, at about 11,000 sqm. Just over 15 pct of space under construction has already been pre-let, with the biggest pre-lease volumes in Poznań and the Tricity. A further 13,000 sqm is being built for owner-occupiers.

Vacancy rates and rents

By the end of last year, the average vacancy rate stood at 16.9 pct, almost one percentage point lower than in 2024. The highest levels were seen in Katowice (21.6 pct) and Wrocław (20 pct).

While that’s a sizeable chunk of empty space, much of it sits in older buildings with small, fragmented floorplates. These often don’t match what tenants are looking for today, which is typically modern offices in prime locations.

With new supply limited and net demand rising, availability in the newest buildings will keep tightening.
Mateusz Polkowski, head of research & consultancy at JLL

Office rents across regional markets in 2025 ranged from EUR 11.50 to EUR 20.00 per square metre per month. Over the year, prime rents rose notably in Kraków (up EUR 1.50), edged up in Poznań (by EUR 0.50), and increased slightly in Wrocław and Łódź. Elsewhere, rents were broadly stable.

One of the most noticeable shifts in 2025 was rent polarisation in Kraków. City-centre rents are now significantly higher than in more outlying areas, with differences of up to EUR 6 per square metre per month. It’s another sign of how mature the Kraków office market has become.

As for lease terms, new, top-tier buildings typically require commitments of five to seven years – and in some cases up to ten, reflecting the high cost of fit-outs. Older buildings tend to be more flexible, with new leases usually running three to five years, and renegotiations two to five.