Central Europe’s total volume of modern industrial stock has quadrupled to almost 18 million sqm over the past 10 years, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Ferdinand Hlobil, head of the CE industrial team at Cushman & Wakefield, says the boom was a result of above-average GDP growth. “Ten years ago, the average for Central European countries was approximately 52 percent of the EU average, but now it’s 68 percent,” he said.
While more than 1.4 million sqm of new space was added to the market in 2014, vacancy for industrial property in the CE is now less than 8 percent. Take-up volume rose to 4.4 million sqm, up by half a million from the record set in 2013. Poland and the Czech Republic accounted for three-quarters of the total. Hlobil expects, however, that new development will slow down in the following years. “We anticipate that in the long-term construction may collide with municipalities’ plans, which will favor revitalizing built-up areas. New development will therefore be more deliberate,” he said.
