Investors buying land in Poland once again

2010-08-20

Investors were more active on the Polish investment land market in H1 2010, according to the report compiled by Colliers International (CI). After the lean period of 2008-2009, the first six months of 2010 saw a significant improvement in this respect. This was a consequence of, among other things, easier access to financial resources and an improvement in the financial condition of investors, who are becoming more inclined to buy property. However, property developers in possession of large land banks are limiting their operations at the present time for the most part to purchasing plots for smaller projects in attractive locations.
In the first six months of 2010 prices of investment real estate in Warsaw city centre jumped 22% compared with the end of 2009 and were 25% higher elsewhere. During this period there was considerable demand in the capital for land for office investments, whereas in large regional centres demand and prices dipped sharply. The latter trend was due to the large number of unleased offices in these areas and investors' lukewarm desire to buy land for such projects. Meanwhile, in the case of plots suitable for retail investments demand is strong in cities with populations of more than 50,000. On the other hand, plots for the same investments in larger urban centres are less popular, owing to a greater saturation of retail space on such markets. On the other hand, most warehouse plots are being purchased for specific undertakings, i.e. built to order for clients. Developers building such BTS projects are buying plots 5-12 ha in size.
In the opinion of CI analysts the healthier state of the market will trigger a rise in the number of transactions and push up prices for investment land. However, investors can still find interesting offers at attractive prices.

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