He said rentals on the Romanian industrial and logistics space market totaled 150,000-170,000 sqm this year, from 70,000 sqm last year. Secondary markets developed this year outside Bucharest and Pitești and Ploiesti were the most attractive destinations, followed by the western part of the country and the north-eastern region, Orzu said.
The average rented surface was around 5,000 sqm and the manufacturing industry was the leading client for industrial space in 2013.
“I think next year will look similar as demand for logistics has not yet recovered. This year’s market was more active because many large projects were put on hold in 2012 due to political instability and resumed in 2013,” the CBRE official said.
As far as new industrial developments go, developers have mainly built projects on demand. In the built to suit category, Belgian developer WDP built an industrial park in Brasov for Inter Cars and Alinso Group built a project in Ploiesti for Coficab.
On the other hand, Czech developer VGP built industrial spaces of 10,000 sqm in Timisoara, which it rented out later, and started construction on another 7,000 sqm. Tester built a project in Iasi with Solo Industrial Park, which was rented by CBRE to U.S. Lear Corp.
CBRE Romania brokered over 80,000 sqm of industrial spaces in 2013.
Rents for industrial spaces remained at EUR3.3-3.8/sqm and CBRE sees no change in rent prices for next year.
According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Romania, the country’s total industrial and logistics space stock is nearly 2 million sqm, half of which is located around capital Bucharest. The vacancy rate is at 12-14% but with large differences between the various regions of the country.