News Article Cushman&Wakefield Czech Republic industrial logistics Prague report
by Property Forum | Industrial

Transactions in the logistics sector have been dominating the Prague market this year. In the first half of 2018 alone, the take-up was 24% higher than in the full year 2017, precisely 226,600 sqm. During the same period, the overall gross take-up reached in Prague 408,000 sqm, showing an increase of 56 %. Besides the logistics sector, more than 90,000 sqm was taken by production and 76,000 sqm by distribution. The biggest new deal in Prague in the logistics sector was done by cargo-partner ČR, which signed a lease agreement for 12,450 sqm located in a stand-alone industrial building in the Logicor Prague Airport logistic park. The company will start operating from the new premises at the beginning of 2019. Cushman & Wakefield facilitated the lease of the premises.


The total take-up (including the extensions of the existing lease agreements) amounted to approximately 733,600 sqm in the first half of 2018. This represents a 14% year-on-year increase. Out of more than 120 transactions in total, more than 35% were entirely new leases – roughly 20% fewer than last year. The biggest new lease deal was Emerge a.s. leasing more than 18,000 sqm. The second biggest new lease deal belongs to cargo-partner ČR. The ratio of vacant industrial space in the Czech Republic decreased to 3.6% at the end of the first half of 2018. The vacancy rate in Prague decreased to 2.7%. The Prague, Ústi and Plzeň regions dominated the demand. The total area of industrial space intended for lease in the Czech Republic grew to 7.37 million sqm in the first half of 2018.
 
“Prague has been popular among tenants for a long time thanks to its undisputed benefits. In particular, the popularity of Prague-West has grown significantly this year; the example of cargo-partner ČR shows that the existing tenants prefer to stay there even if they need to expand. The vacancy rate in Prague-West ranged around 4% in the last three years and was as high as 5.25% at the end of 2017. As of the middle of this year, it is just 1.5%. It is almost twice as low as the overall vacancy rate in Prague,” says Ferdinand Hlobil, Partner and the Head of the CEE Industrial Team at Cushman & Wakefield.
Ferdinand Hlobil

Ferdinand Hlobil

Head of Industrial Agency CEE
Cushman & Wakefield

Ferdinand Hlobil is the International Partner and Head of Industrial in Central and Eastern Europe. He joined Cushman & Wakefield in 1995 and became a Partner of the firm. He coordinates the CEE industrial teams and the cross-border flows of developers, investors and occupiers. He has considerable experience of the Central European property market in industrial, retail warehousing and various land acquisitions. Ferdinand is a member of the Logistics Managers Club. More »