News

2013 will be a outstanding for the industrial property market

In the past quarter construction activity on the modern industrial property market in the Czech Republic culminated and 13 new projects were delivered to the market with a total area of approximately 130,000 sqm. “By year end, we expect another 100,000 sqm of new logistics and light industrial space to be completed, which will put the total stock in the Czech Republic over the 4.5 million line. At the same time the completion levels will surpass 330,000 sqm which will be the highest supply since 2009,” says Harry Bannatyne, Head of Industrial Agency Jones Lang LaSalle.

By the year-end, we expect the completion of an additional 8 projects, distributed over 4 regions. The largest of the schemes are 33,000 sqm of industrial space for FEI Czech Republic in CTPark Brno II, 22,000 sqm for Grammer in CTPark Žatec and almost 10,000 sqm for a logistics operator in VGP Park Liberec.

During Q3 2013, both gross and net take-up remained strong, reaching one of the best results in the last three years. Net take-up in Q3 2013 reached 181,000 sqm, increasing 24% q-o-q and 9% y-o-y. The Greater Prague, Pilsen and Ostrava regions attracted the largest share in net take-up volume during the period. In the first three quarters of 2013, a total of 766,000 sqm of logistics and light industrial space was leased. This result is by 26% better than in the same period of 2012 and is only by 16 % worse than the overall result of 2012. "Leased space volume in 2013 is approaching 1 million sqm and is due to overcome the record figures of 2010 (924,000 sqm) and 2012 (908,000 sqm),” explains Blanka Vačkova, Senior Research Analyst at Jones Lang LaSalle.

The largest transaction of Q3 2013 was the renegotiation of the main tenants in Prologis Park Prague Jirny comprising over 19,000 sqm of logistics space. The largest new transaction of the quarter was Amazon leasing 17,400 sqm of distribution space in Panattoni Park Prague Airport.

“The growing importance of e-commerce and the specific requirements this implies on the logistics space is a current trend, which is showing ever more clearly also on the Czech industrial property market. However, automotive remains the biggest driver of industrial market in the Czech Republic. Its positive impact on the Czech market is visible across all regions, playing a key role in some of them,” adds Blanka Vačkova.

“The overall atmosphere on the market is improving and the players´ trust in the Czech market is increasing. Record results of the logistics space market reflects also in the investors´ interest. 2013 will be an outstanding year both from the supply and demand point of views,” concludes Harry Bannatyne.