According to the “Occupier Economics: Office Market in Łódź, H1 2020” report prepared by Cresa Poland, office take-up hit 53,900 sqm in January-June, accounting for more than 87% of the annual average for 2015-2019. IT sector generated 56% of demand for offices.
At the end of H1 2020, Łódź’s total office stock stood at 548,000 sqm, up by 10% year-on-year. Two office buildings were delivered to the market in the second quarter: Brama Miasta A (14,100 sqm, Skanska) and Zielony by Synergia (4,400 sqm, Synergia). New leases made up 58% of all deals in Q2. Next in line were renegotiations and expansions which accounted for 39% and 3% of the leasing volume, respectively.
“Office absorption was at 5,600 sqm in H1 2020. The city’s vacancy rate reached 13.2%, representing a 1.1 pp increase year-on-year. There is 72,100 sqm of office space available to lease in existing office buildings. It remains to be seen in the coming quarters how deeply the epidemic-related restrictions on economic activity will impact demand and thereby the appetite for commencing new projects,” says Bolesław Kołodziejczyk, PhD, Head of Research & Advisory, Cresa Poland.
The largest lease agreement in H1 2020 was a pre-lease of 16,300 sqm in Fuzja signed by Fujitsu Technology Solutions, followed by a renewal with expansion at Sterlinga Business Center (5,700 sqm, confidential tenant) and a new lease of 4,700 sqm in Brama Miasta B signed by GFT.
Asking rents stand at EUR 9.5-11.5/sqm/month in Łódź’s lower class office buildings and at EUR 12.0-14.0 /sqm/month in higher grade buildings.
