Colliers: Czech industrial vacancy headed down

Earlier in the year, we reported in CIJ on an increase in Western manufacturers moving into the Czech Republic. It’s a trend that  appears to be gathering pace. Colliers CZ is reporting that vacancy has been falling since the fourth quarter of 2009. While it remains at a still-daunting looking 17.8%, take-up rose in the Q1 2010 to 152,000 sqm. It hasn’t been at those levels since Q3 of 2008, having slipped to just 50,00 sqm in Q2 2009.

Colliers MD Karel Stransky says if current demand levels stick, vacancy could get down to a healthy sub-10% by the end of the year, and he warns that some regions, like the western area around Pilsen, could run out of available stock. Would developers actually start building new stock at that point? That’ll be the ultimate litmus test on this alleged recovery.

RERA pegs Budapest office vacancy at 24.9%

RERA, the new agency research grouping in Budapest, has come out with some Q1 vacancy numbers for the office market that just might discourage some developers from jumping into any new spec development. The Vaci ut corridor comes out the best, with only 18.2% of the stock now empty. CBD, on the other hand, is currently at 23.5% thanks to some new buildings coming on line, while the “periphery” sounds haunted with 40% of the space unoccupied. RERA calculates the average vacancy figure to be 24.9%. It reports 54,000 sqm in office deals for the first three months of the year, with Vaci ut and inner-Buda the most popular location. Larger users are tending to opt for lease renewals at the moment, rather than moving to new space.

Vaci 33 fully let

Budapest’s office vacancy levels have been climbing almost as steadily as the pipeline can push out new stock, so Colliers has made a point of bragging about how it’s managed to fill Vaci 33 for the owner IG Immobilien. Completed in 2007, Colliers got it to 90% occupancy within 18 months. This appears to have been achieved after Celanese expanded its 2,800 sqm shared services center by a full 1,500 sqm. Colliers remains the exclusive agency for the building.

Moscow mayhem

Just in case you thought things weren’t so bad in Moscow, Cushman & Wakefield Stiles & Riabokobylko says you should think again.

28% vacancy on prime office premises?? Yikes! Wonder how those owners are paying their bank loans?