Bucharest got less than half of the new space delivered, a trend set to continue, because of the appetite of developers and tenants to expand their operations to secondary and tertiary cities to cover more ground in terms of distribution, a report by real estate consultant Avison Young says.
“Industrial developers plan to deliver another 450,000 square meters of class A logistics space by the end of 2021, which means 2021 will be as productive as the previous years, continuing the growth trend,” says Iuliana Busca, head of industrial agency with Avison Young.
Two thirds of the 2020 new deliveries took place in the second half and developers seem to continue to reserve plots for new projects, she added. However, Romania is far behind other countries in the region such as Poland and Czech Republic.
Some 350,000 square meters of modern industrial and logistics space have been rented in the first half, about the same as in the first half of 2020 (340,000 square meters), the Avison Young report says.
Demand from manufacturing businesses and the retail industry increased by 18% in the first half of 2021 from 13% in the first half of 2020, while demand from the e-commerce sector rose from about 3% to 9%.
“Generally, we’re seeing an appetite for expansion from the existing tenant companies, as well as from international companies, especially e-commerce ones, seeking to enter the local market and establish regional distribution centers in Romania,” says Laurentiu Duica, senior vice president with Avison Young.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)