In Q3 2020, Wrocław, which accounted for over 37% of gross demand, enjoyed the greatest interest of tenants. The Wrocław market is also the leader in the amount of new supply delivered to the market in the third quarter. Nearly 49,000 sqm of space has been delivered to tenants in three new office buildings. In the perspective of the next few quarters the markets of Kraków and Wrocław will grow most dynamically, while Tri-City may exceed 1 million sqm of existing office stock in 2021. Taking into account the biggest lease transactions, IT companies seem to be the most resistant to the current coronacrisis.
Regional markets are currently subject to the same evaluation processes as the market in the capital, although naturally on a smaller scale. This is reflected by the structure of demand, the vacancy rate, or the transaction volume. In the long term, however, regional centres such as Kraków, Wrocław and Tri-City, which has grown to be the fourth regional power, that support the development of shared services, IT and financial services in terms of office spaces, will not lose their attractiveness. The ongoing pandemic has put the economy on hold, and remote working, as a natural consequence, has triggered an avalanche of questions about the future of the offices. In our view, the current situation will not cause the further development of the regional markets to be drastically hampered, but only to slow down in the coming months. Numerous academic centres, well-educated personnel, growing supply of modern office space, relatively low lease and labour costs, as well as the growing near-shoring trend for the services sector will be the reasons for Poland's high attractiveness on the map of Europe and of regional cities on the map of Poland
Małgorzata Fibakiewicz, Managing Director, Office Class Sector and Strategic Projects at BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland