South Africa
8%
real estate market is expected to grow further in the near future, underpinned by very competitive returns in comparison with Western Europe,” Stempień said.
19%
27%
DOMESTIC DROUGHT
Investors from other Central and Eastern Europe region countries have become increasingly interested in the Polish commercial property market in recent years, but their share in the combined transaction volume remains rather small. In 2018, they invested approximately €200 million in Poland, accounting for around 3 percent of the total investment volume. Experts predict that they will remain relatively active in the country as their strategies envision the expansion of their existing portfolios. Czech companies such as CPI Property Group have already made a number of major acquisitions in the Polish market. Czech investors are expected to close several sizable deals later this year, with Hungarian capital expected to become more active. By contrast, the activeness of domestic investors is still very low – Savills assesses that in H1 2019 they accounted for only 1 percent of the invested capital. Commercial property is relatively pricey for Polish investors, explained Michał Stępień, associate, investment, at the company. He argued that legal changes are needed to improve the situation. For example, the law regulating FINNs (the Polish equivalent of REITs) could be modified so that they can also invest in commercial property, rather than just residential real estate. Of a similar opinion was Felicki, who said that giving Polish investors the proper tools to allocate capital would lessen the disproportion between foreign and domestic investors’ share in the market. “The potential that changes in legal regulations could unlock is huge,” he maintained.
Domestic
US and Canada
Regional split of Poland’s commercial property investment volume in 2015 Source: Savills
Europe
46%
Asia Pacific
Domestic
4%
11% South Africa
Europe
15%
Middle East
39% Regional split of Poland’s commercial property investment volume in 2018 Source: Savills
5%
US and Canada
26%
Africa
16.97%
Western Poland
26.54% America
6.04%
Regional split of Poland’s commercial property investment volume in H1 2019
Poland
1.01%
Source: CBRE
Other countries
9.86%
CEE
1.71%
Asia
37.88%
W B J AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019
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