First Property Group has entered into a contract for the sale of one of its properties, a 50.3% interest in Chałubińskiego 8 (CH8), an office tower in Warsaw, Poland, at a price of €44 million. Completion of the contract is deferred until the treatment of VAT relating to the sale has been approved by the Polish tax authorities, which is expected by 31 March 2020. The name of the buyer has not been disclosed.

In 2019, the Polish housing market experienced an acceleration and increase of projects in the rental and private student housing sectors. Poland is still on the radar of large foreign investors and some of them have been able to conclude spectacular deals. Although potential institutional buyers still aren’t able to purchase turn-key portfolios on an expected scale, and entering the market mostly means building new stock, the institutional rental sector is drawing more and more interest and will undoubtedly become a desired category of safe assets in 2020.

According to JLL data, office take-up in Warsaw grew by 270,000 sqm year-on-year in Q3 2019. At the same time, 185,000 sqm of space was delivered to the market during recent months. This means that the need for additional space exceeded new supply by as much as 85,000 sqm. This impressive performance has further fueled developer activity. 790,000 sqm of space is under construction, with a significant proportion of this total already being leased.

Globalworth has signed agreements with Podium Investment Poland to acquire Podium Park in Kraków. Podium Park comprises three connected 11-storey buildings which will, on completion, have a total leasable area of ​​over 55,000 sqm, and it is one of the few office projects in Poland with BREEAM certificates at the highest possible level - Outstanding.

The redevelopment of the Eden Park retail park in Zgorzelec (Poland) has been completed, commissioning documents have been received and the rental campaign of the updated retail park is in full swing.

The Catella European Residential (CER) Fund has acquired a mixed-use development project of residential apartments and student accommodation in the Polish city of Kraków for around €20 million from U.S. developer Hines.

The top 40 construction companies operating in Poland posted a record aggregate revenue in 2018, breaking the previous revenue high set in 2011. Besides an improved volume of work, the revenue hike was also largely driven by rising prices of building materials and labour.

Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed as sole letting agent for Cybernetyki 19A and Cybernetyki 19B, two office buildings of the Dantex Plaza complex.

GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, has signed an agreement to acquire a pan-European logistics real estate portfolio (Maximus) from funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc., a leading global alternative investment manager, for a net consideration of approximately €950 million. This acquisition is in line with GIC’s strategy to scale up its fully-owned P3 logistics platform and reinforce P3’s position as a leading developer and manager of logistics properties in Europe. 

With the payment transferred on 13 December, Wing has acquired a 100% stake in Lisala, which in turn owns a 56 % stake in ECHO Investment, a company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). This acquisition makes Wing a major real estate firm at the regional level. Supporting Echo Investment’s long-term growth program, Wing enters as a strategic investor. At the operational level, the two companies will continue to operate independently.