By areas, Bucharest attracted the largest part of demand in the first half, with 46% of the total (187,300 square meters), followed by Arad with 15% (62,700 square meters) and Romania’s largest industrial hub Timisoara, with 14% of the total (58,600 square meters).
The largest deals sealed in the second quarter are represented by two pre-leases, a 20,900-sqm one by VAT Group in VGP Park Arad, and the other one of 20,000 square meters clinched by Deichmann in ALI Park 3 Bucharest.
Manufacturing companies were the most dynamic on the lease market in the first half, with almost 100,000 square meters contracted, followed by logistics and warehousing operators, with 63,000 sqms, retail, e-commerce and FMCG companies-48,000 square meters, automotive- 24,000 square meters and pharma 17,800 square meters.
At the end of Q2, the modern stock of industrial and logistic spaces neared 7.13 million square meters, as developers in the first half of the year completed new projects with an overall leasable area of around 104,000 square meters countrywide. In Q2/2024, deliveries revolved around 60,000 square meters.
“The second quarter looked much better in terms of macroeconomic indicators, amid falling inflation, interest rate cut. Moreover, the economy was much more resilient in the first half of the year, with GDP growth rates of 1.8% and 2.1% registered in Q1 and Q2, respectively, and annual estimated growth of 2.7% for 2024. All these variables create the context for a new good year for the logistic and industrial market, both in terms of demand and development activity,” says Rodica Tarcavu, Industrial Agency Partner at Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.
In line with the company’s data, the local development activity in the first half of this year slowed down against the year-earlier period, when it reached 202,000 square meters.
For the next 18 months, over 570,000 square meters are expected to be delivered, so that the stock is likely to top 7.5 million square meters at end-2024.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)