Offices defy the gloom-mongers

The most serious concerns and uncertainties for 2015 included the situation on the Warsaw market. However, what has happened in Poland’s capital city probably came as surprise to everyone. According to estimates of the Polish Office Research Forum (PORF), the total take-up in 2015 came close to 834,000 sqm, a 36.3 pct increase on 2014. The two most popular Warsaw destinations were the Upper South zone (229,300 sqm leased) and City Fringe (227,000 sqm leased). Between January 2015 and December 2015 new contracts (43.1 pct) had the highest share in the entire demand structure, followed by renegotiations of existing contracts (32.4 pct). Pre-leases made up 14.9 pct of all new lease transactions. According to PORF, Warsaw’s largest transaction concluded in 2015 was a 21,000 sqm pre-lease agreement with Samsung, which is to move into the Warsaw Spire complex soon [the project’s developer claimed it was a 22,500 sqm lease &ndas