Demand for warehouse space is increasing in Central Europe, with €330m worth of new investments having created 3,700 new jobs in the region, according to a recent report from Cushman & Wakefield. A total of 690,000 sqm of modern warehouse has hit CE markets in 2013. In the Czech Republic, all the big-name developers are currently active and the market even appears to be hotting up. “There are new developers looking to enter the Czech Republic,” says Ferdinand Hlobil, head of the CE industrial team at Cushman & Wakefield.
Leasing volumes increased 74 percent last year, hitting 1.2 million sqm. More than 80 percent came from renewals, but Hlobil says this emphasizes their confidence in the Czech economy. Investors are increasingly looking at industrial properties, but price expectations still have to converge a bit. “There is a large overflow of money looking for opportunities,” says Hlobil. He says that pension funds are increasingly focusing on logistics areas around Prague.
