The stock of industrial and logistics spaces in the local market has exceeded the 4 million square meter threshold, 90% of the total stock being concentrated in eight large cities from the southern, central and western parts of Romania, according to the Romania Industrial & Logistics Market report, made by the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox real estate consulting company.
The only cities in the eastern part of the country that have attracted the attention of private developers of industrial and logistics parks are Iaşi, Roman and Brăila, which however accumulate less than 3% of the total stock, being avoided by most developers and potential investors primarily because of the problems related to infrastructure. By comparison, the stock in Sibiu is higher than in the entire Moldova region.
Bucharest is the largest market
Bucharest is the largest market, with almost 1.9 million square meters, coresponding to a share of about 46%, followed by Timisoara, which has crossed the 500,000 square meters threshold, and Ploiesti, with around 370,000 square meters. Over the last five years, the market has doubled, as developers have delivered between 400,000 and 500,000 square meters / year.
2020 has the potential to become a record year, with a pipeline of about 700,000 square meters, out of which 400,000 square meters are expected to be delivered in Bucharest, where, besides the established western area connected to the A1 motorway, two other important logistics hubs are emerging: North-West (Dragomirești, Chitila, Mogoșoaia) and North (Ştefăneşti).
The transactional activity remained at a high level in 2019, the companies leasing approx. 477,000 square meters, out of which contract renewals represented only 20%. The most active sectors were automotive (30% of the total demand), retail (physical and online – 20%), distribution in various sectors (12%) and logistics and transportation (10%).
The largest owners of industrial and logistic spaces are CTP and WDP, which have a cumulative portfolio of about 2 million square meters, thus controlling half of the market. On the other hand, other developers, such as VGP, Global Vision, Industrial Element, P3 or Helios Phoenix, show a growing appetite for expansion.