Over 500,000 Square Meters Of Industrial And Logistics Space Under Construction In Romania

Bucharest (154,000 square meters), Brasov (108,000 square meters), Bacau (50,000 square meters), Slatina (50,000 square meters) and Timisoara (34,000 square meters) are the main locations where developers will expand their footprints in the next 15 months.

“In a context where the economic uncertainty continues to impact the tenants’ expansion plans, developers may adopt more cautious approaches when it comes to commencing new investments in industrial & logistics facilities, on the short term at least,” says Andrei Brinzea, Partner Industrial Agency Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

“This caution can also be noticed in other markets in the region, a region where the new supply has seen a year-on-year decrease by 16% in the first nine months of 2023. However, we estimate that the developers’ appetite for new investments will bounce back on the medium term, given that we are already witnessing a downward inflationary trend and a stabilization of the financing costs, elements which could stimulate the tenants’ needs for new industrial premises.”

New projects with a total of 252,000 square meters were built across the country in the first nine months. The total yearly development activity in 2023 will be lower compared with 2022 (821,000 square meters), as the fourth quarter pipeline is estimated at around 183,000 square meters.

As for demand, 716,000 square meters of logistics and industrial space were leased in January-September 2023, a decline of 22% on the year-ago period. New demand continues to be the main driver of the market, accounting for more than 70% of the total leased in the first nine months of 2023.

(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)

The development activity in the major industrial and logistics hubs

Source: Cushman & Wakefield Echinox Research