According to “Office Occupier: Office Market in Katowice”, a report published by real estate advisory firm Cresa Poland, the leasing volume reached close to 65,000 sqm, down by 23% on the previous year. It accounted for 134,6% of the annual average for 2015-2019. Last year new agreements dominated the transaction volume at 69%, followed by renegotiations (17%) and expansions (14%). New supply hit a record high in Katowice in 2020. The city’s office stock expanded by as much as 61,000 sqm while more than 160,000 sqm is currently under construction.
“Katowice remains one of the fastest-growing regional city markets in Poland. Despite the pandemic, plans for new office projects have not been mothballed altogether but some have been postponed. More than 61,000 sqm of new office space was delivered in 2020 and the key completions, which include Face2Face Business Campus and DL Piano, were, in large part, leased. 2020 was also a year of working from home and a hybrid work model. Time has told, however, that companies will need offices. As a result, tenants are not vacating offices, but are demanding flexibility as regards lease length,” says Elżbieta Golik, Senior Advisor, Office Department, Cresa Poland.
In 2020, total take-up reached close to 65,000 sqm, down by 23% on the previous year. Last year new agreements dominated the transaction volume at 69%, followed by renegotiations (17%) and expansions (14%). The fourth quarter alone saw 30,900 sqm transacted. New leases accounted for 68% of the leasing activity, followed by renegotiations and expansions which made up 21% and 11% of all deals, respectively.
The largest office deals in 2020 in Katowice included a pre-let of 16,600 sqm in Global Office Park A2 (a tower) by ING Tech Poland and two pre-let leases in the Face2Face Business Campus: Capgemini (11,000 sqm) and Honeywell (3,700 sqm).
At the end of 2020, office space in Katowice amounted to approximately 589,700 sqm. The city’s office stock expanded by 12% year-on-year, in line with the average five-year growth of 11%. The fourth quarter was the best in terms of new supply in 2020. A total of 30,200 sqm of new office space was delivered in Katowice in two buildings: Echo Investment’s Face2Face B (26,200 sqm) and Cavatina’s Global Office Park C (4,000 sqm).
“New supply hit a record high in Katowice in 2020. The city’s office stock expanded by as much as 61,000 sqm while more than 160,000 sqm is currently under construction. Therefore, the Katowice market is likely to experience an office oversupply in the short term,” says Iga Kraśniewska, Research Manager, Research & Advisory, Cresa Poland.
The vacancy rate of the Upper Silesia capital stood at 9.2% at the end of Q4 2020, up by 3.6 pp on the same time in 2019 and up by 2.2 pp on Q3 2020.
Due to the high supply of new space which culminated in the last quarter, total absorption amounted to more than 37,000 sqm in 2020, representing a 43% increase on the same period a year earlier.
Asking rents in modern office buildings in Katowice range between EUR 9/sqm/month and EUR 15/sqm/month (in the city centre).
Cresa is the world’s largest commercial real estate advisory firm that exclusively represents occupiers and specializes in the delivery of fully integrated real estate solutions. It serves clients through more than 80 global offices. Cresa Poland offers unbiased, independent commercial real estate advice. Its integrated services include conflict-free tenant representation, capital markets, market research and advisory, valuation, design & project management and workplace strategy. To learn more, please visit: www.nmrk.pl
