The development of e-commerce has a growing impact on the development of the industrial real estate sector. The origins can be found in the change of our shopping habits - the popularization of e-commerce has revolutionized logistics operations in warehouses. It's just the tip of the iceberg! See how e-commerce is changing the Polish warehouse market.
Small Business Units (SBUs) are rising up the agendas of firms operating on the warehouse market, a notable trend reflected in rising demand and supply levels.
Eastern Poland continues to attract increasing interest from both Polish and overseas investors. Its cities, including Lublin, Białystok and Suwałki, are gaining favour with logistics and manufacturing firms planning to expand.
Warehouse stock dedicated to e-commerce in Poland has reached nearly 4 million sq m. The largest volumes of warehouse space available to online retailers are in the Łódzkie voivodeship (887,000 sq m), Lower Silesia (716,000 sq m) and Silesia (621,000 sq m). Global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield has published its pioneering research How to handle e-commerce in a warehouse?, which includes an overview of the Polish industrial market from the perspective of e-commerce and key trends having the strongest impact on the sector’s further growth.
Fast delivery and labour requirements are key factors in the choice of a warehouse location for e-commerce tenants in Poland, say survey respondents. What is the importance of the fit-out and standard of space? How important are automation and welfare facilities to employees?
Are cutting-edge warehouse technologies a trump card for developers in their competition for tenants? What high-tech innovations have recently made their way into this sector and what do they do?
Cushman & Wakefield’s Manufacturing Risk Index report shows formerly low-cost locations such as China and India are moving up the value production chain through country-sponsored support of technological adoption.
In early February 2018, Damian Kołata joined the Industrial and Logistics Agency of global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield as an Associate.
At the end of 2018, Poland’s industrial and warehouse stock reached 15.79 million sq m. Around 2.22 million sq m of modern warehouse and industrial space was delivered to the market last year, down by just 6% on 2017’s level.
Europe’s commercial real estate markets maintained their positive trend across most markets and property types during the fourth quarter of 2018, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest DNA of Real Estate report.
At the end of Q3 2018, Poland’s industrial and logistics stock surpassed the 15 million sq m mark following the completion of 1.42 million sq m since the beginning of the year.
The existing set of tools used to support direct investments in Poland is changing. Going forward, this may lead to a reduction in the scale of new projects breaking ground and to changes to project management.
Occupier activity set an all-time high on the Polish industrial market in the first three months of 2018, which pushed the country’s vacancy rate down to its lowest on record. Demand came mostly from e-commerce (24%), logistics operators (23%) and retailers (19%).
New rules governing special economic zones and state aid procedures in Poland are on the horizon.
