Zuzanna Kurek, Investor Relations Manager and ESG Committee Member of One United Properties, spoke with Property Forum about the ESG agenda of the Romanian developer and its role in growing the value of the company. Moreover, she also discussed how sustainability is becoming a strategic element in the developer’s negotiations for funding with banks and capital market investors.

2022 was a good, strong year in Poland's office market. After a downturn, it was time for a long-awaited boom in demand. Companies have adapted to new working conditions. Due to the loosening of restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, they have launched a campaign to encourage people to return to their offices. On the other hand, we will see lower development activity in both Warsaw and regional office markets in the coming quarters, which should last until 2024. AXI IMMO summarised 2022 on the Polish office market.

The modern office stock in regional Romanian cities is set to reach around 1.3 million sqm in the next five years if the planned projects spanning 275,000 sqm will be delivered in this period, according to a report by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

In 2022, the Polish office market recorded a strong performance in terms of demand for office space which came predominantly from the financial, IT and business services sectors. Meanwhile, development activity slowed down amid rising construction costs and the deteriorating economic backdrop. This will result in a ‘supply gap’ in the largest regional city office markets and Warsaw alike, says Cushman & Wakefield in its latest report.

CA Immo has concluded 45 lease agreements with a total of nearly 29,000 sqm of office space in Warsaw in the past year, 20% of which in the fourth quarter of 2022. Based on the Group's international net zero initiative, the company has also introduced a green lease initiative in 2022, governing mutual commitment of landlord and tenant to optimize sustainable building operations. Since May 2022, 23 green lease agreements have already been concluded.

In 2022, the Warsaw office market recorded one of the highest levels of demand in history at over 860,000 sqm, with its structure including a preponderance of new leases and relocations, as well as expansions over renegotiations. According to the consulting firm Savills, despite the fact that nominal rents are stable and rising mainly due to indexation, service charges, which represent an increasing proportion of the total rental costs.

Romanian developer Genesis Property says it is committed to achieving zero carbon emissions for the buildings in its portfolio by 2030. This will be achieved by investments in energy efficiency and production from renewable sources.

CPI Property Group has announced the completion of the modernization process of the myhive Victoria Park building in Bucharest. The building completes the myhive building portfolio in Bucharest, which includes 4 other properties, including myhive S-Park, myhive Metroffice, myhive IRIDE | nineteen and myhive IRIDE | twenty.

Transactions of new office rental, relocation and pre-rental in Romania’s regional cities reached 70,393 sqm during 2022, which was 22% more than in 2021. Almost 90% of the lease deals were closed in cities that are university centres such as Iași, Cluj-Napoca and Timișoara,  according to a report by Fortim Trusted Advisors.

As for the whole of 2022, the annual new supply of office space represents approximately 75,400 sqm. Although the annual supply of newly-completed space increased by 34% year-on-year, total volume was again below the long-term average of approximately 130,000 sqm per year. 2023 is expected to bring about some changes and more extensive construction. This means the Prague office market should grow to the 4 million sqm mark by 2025. Also at the close of 2022, several consecutive quarters of rent price growth came to a halt. These findings come from a survey by Colliers.