JLL issued a short publication on the office demand structure in 2014 and compared the relative positions of the key office markets in the country including Katowice.
BPO/SSC centers are the main occupier of offices in the regional cities in Poland. JLL has analyzed lease agreements concluded in 2014 on Poland’s office space market. The analyzed agreements were the ones that have been made public – confidential transactions have been excluded. Office take-up totalled over one million sq. meters in 2014, of which 612 000 sq. meters were contracts in Warsaw. In Katowice, the gross take-up amounted to 48 800 sq. meters last year and 60 100 sq. meters of modern office space were delivered to the City’s market.
„The high ‘under construction of total office stock’ ratio is observed across Poland, with the exception of Katowice and the newer, less developed in office terms markets of Szczecin and Lublin” – said Anna Bartoszewicz-Wnuk, head of research in Poland of JLL.
Last year, the BPO/SSC companies leased approximately 268 000 sq. meters of office space outside the capital city. „Booming markets which are driven by expanding BPO/SSC companies and are seeing high take-up and, even more importantly, sound absorption rates, include Kraków, Katowice, Wrocław, the Tri-City and Łódź. Poznań seems to be slightly lagging behind” – commented Mateusz Polkowski, associate director, research, Poland at JLL.
The combination of vacancy rate and under construction volume as a percent of total stock in the City makes the Katowice office market tenant-favourable. Also, take-up and absorption rates enable to classify Katowice as the fast-developing market.
Analysts are positive about the future trends on the Polish office market. However, it has to be mentioned that, according to the latest Cushman & Wakefield’s BPO and Shared Service Location Index 2015, Poland is now ranked 18th in the list of world’s best outsourcing locations (16th position in 2014). The country is positioned after such European countries as Bulgaria (3rd), Romania (4th), Hungary (9th), Lithuania (11th) and the Czech Republic (17th).