The Polish commercial property market’s key figures and facts in 2013, including Katowice, were highlighted in the “Marketbeat Poland – Spring 2014” report prepared by Cushman & Wakefield.
Concerning the retail sector, Cushman & Wakefield confirms that the sale of Silesia City Center was the biggest ever commercial single property acquisition in Poland. Additionally, Galeria Katowicka was amongst the three biggest shopping centers which had been opened in Poland last year. In general, the shopping center density in the eight conurbations is the lowest in Katowice just after Szczecin.
In 2013 total take-up on the Katowice office market reached around 56 000 sq. meters (while the total take-up in Poland reached 968 700 sq. meters), of which 66% were new leases and nearly 22% were two owner-occupation deals. Polski Koks occupied 6 160 sq. meters in the office building on Paderewskiego St., while Getin Bank companies signed pre-lets for 6 000 sq. meters in LC Corp’s Silesia Star being currently under construction. The largest letting was IBM’s lease of 8 670 sq. meters in Echo Investment’s A4 Business Park. Katowice’s total office stock stands at 302 600 sq. meters, according to the analysts.
The largest office projects scheduled for delivery in 2014 include the two phases of A4 Business Park totalling 17 800 sq. meters, Silesia Star (12 800 sq. meters) and Skanska’s Silesia Business Park (10 700 sq. meters), where 6 770 sq. meters will be taken up by PwC. The relatively healthy take-up pushed Katowice’s vacancy rate up by only 0,4 percentage points to 7,3% compared with 2012. Asking rents were relatively low at EUR 13–14/sq.m/month, with effective rents at EUR 11–12/sq.m/month.
