Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Poland’s real estate market remained robust in 2020.

According to data provided by Avison Young, the aggregate value of commercial real estate investment in Poland in 2020 reached €5.3 billion, representing the third best market result in history. Dentons' Real Estate team in Warsaw advised on investment transactions worth more than €2.7 billion, giving it a market share of over 50 percent by deal value. In terms of deal volume, Dentons advised on nearly 40 percent of all commercial real estate projects completed in Poland last year.

In 2020, the Real Estate team in Warsaw recorded the highest growth in the logistics sector, where its number of completed transactions increased by 128 percent compared to 2019, and in the Private Rental Sector (PRS) projects, in which its completed transactions rose by 50 percent.

The largest projects, in terms of investment value, were related to the purchase or sale of warehouse portfolios. Dentons advised on logistics transactions with an aggregate value of €1.2 billion, which is almost half of the total investment value in this sector (€2.6 billion last year).

"Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the warehouse market remained dynamic and registered a significant level of activity, with investors buying single properties, as well as entire portfolios. The most active warehouse facilities investors were from Asia, particularly from Korea, but we also participated in transactions involving investors from Japan, China, Singapore and Malaysia," commented Monika Sitowicz, Partner and Deputy Head of the Dentons Real Estate practice in Poland.

Last year, Dentons advised Savills Investment Management on an Asian investor’s first transaction in Poland, concerning the acquisition of a portfolio of five logistics parks located in Warsaw, Szczecin, Silesia and Greater Poland districts, offering approx. 280,000 sq. m. of gross floor area. Another significant deal related to the sale of portfolio of a six distribution parks and the Nord Point office building by Hines Poland Sustainable Income Fund (HPSIF), an investment fund managed by Hines Polska, to a Chinese investor.

Furthermore, in 2020 Dentons’ Real Estate team advised on 19 office transactions, six of which involved the purchase of A-class office buildings in Warsaw by CPI Property Group (CPI), with an aggregate value of €257 million. As a result of these acquisitions, CPI has increased its office space portfolio to 314,000 sq. m. and has become the owner of the largest office portfolio in Warsaw in terms of gross leasable area. The total value of office transactions that Dentons advised on in 2020 amounted to €1.1 billion, which represents 55 percent of all investments in this segment, with an estimated worth of €2 billion.

"Investing in build-to-rent projects in Poland is currently perceived as a way of accumulating capital in a stable and profitable sector, while until recently it was called ‘alternative’. As a result of this shift in approach, we notice that transactions in the PRS segment are becoming an increasingly important element of the investment market in Poland," says Bartłomiej Kordeczka, Partner and Deputy Head of Dentons’ Real Estate practice in Poland.

The total value of PRS projects in Poland in 2020 amounted to approx. €500 million, while the value of transactions in which Dentons advised reached €139 million. Among others, the team advised the Swedish company Heimstaden Bostad AB on the acquisition of two residential projects in Warsaw comprising 640 rental units, which was the client's first investment in Poland. The momentum has continued into 2021: in January, Dentons closed another transaction for Heimstaden involving 647 units in Warsaw.

"Despite the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Polish real estate market has remained buoyant, and similarly to previous years our market share in 2020, in terms of deal value, was over 50 percent. These results make us a leader not only in Poland but also in the Central and Eastern Europe region. I would like to thank our clients for their trust and the team for their hard work in this difficult period," – concluded partner Piotr Szafarz, Head of Dentons’ Real Estate practice in Poland and in CEE.

Dentons’ Real Estate team offers comprehensive services to property clients - investors, developers, and lenders. The team advises on the acquisition and sale of commercial real estate, real estate financing, and lease transactions in the office, logistics, retail, residential and hotel sectors.

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