A higher office rent may pay off. It is unknown what the work environment will look like in ten years. That is why an office must be designed so that it can be expanded, reduced and adapted to new needs. Publication: 08.11.2026 10:26 The office market is a two-speed market: good offices are disappearing, while worse ones are losing tenants, according to experts from the advisory firm Newmark Polska. As Karol Wyka, managing director of the office space department at the company, says, more and more employers are questioning the effectiveness of remote work and are opting for employees to be present at the company headquarters more often. - To encourage employees and candidates, however, they must provide them with offices of an appropriate standard, in a good location, with convenient access - the director notes. - Demand is therefore concentrated on the best addresses, while property owners in weaker locations have to contend with a growing number of vacancies. High demand, low office supply. The company's analyses show that vacancies in central Warsaw amount to slightly more than 4 percent, while in Służewiec they reach 16 percent, and in the Żwirki i Wigury corridor they exceed 15 percent. These differences, as analysts emphasize, show that companies are ready to pay more for a central location and convenient access. Finding 500 sq m in the Central Business Area (COB) that can be moved into quickly is very difficult today. In Służewiec, such space can be rented without any problem. Demand for the best offices collides with historically low supply. According to the Polish Chamber of Commercial Real Estate (PINK), the stock of modern office space in Warsaw at the end of the third quarter was more than 6.2 million sq m. Since the beginning of the year, only 45.2 thousand sq m of offices have come onto the market. The average vacancy rate for the entire city was 7.9 percent. - Tenants are concentrating on the most attractive points in the city, where the availability of new offices and investment land is limited. That is why developers are increasingly turning to existing properties - says Karol Wyka. - Older buildings are being demolished, and modern facilities better suited to tenants' needs are being built in their place. This is a trend that has been visible in Western Europe for years, especially in London, where the shortage of free plots prompts investors to redevelop buildings or replace them with new ones. The best offices are running out. Large tenants must plan relocations even several years in advance. Rents are going up, and fitting-out costs for space are also rising... According to the expert, we will observe more and more such investments in Poland as well. An example? The demolition of the 22-storey Ilmet at the ONZ Roundabout, carried out by the developer Skanska. In place of the building from 1995-1997, a 188-metre tower, Warsaw One, is planned, which is to offer about 60 thousand sq m of office space. Newmark Polska experts note that replacing an old office building with a new one is not a good solution everywhere. Where demand for offices is weak, an alternative may be to change the function of buildings. - An example is Warsaw's Służewiec, where part of the buildings of the former Empark Mokotów Business Park, built in the 1990s, have already been demolished, and apartments are being built in their place - the analysts say. They report that since 2015, almost 1 million sq m of space on Poland's main office markets has undergone a transformation. Some properties have been modernised, and some have changed function. energia.rp.pl In-depth knowledge about the fuel market A longer life for real estate. Developers are increasingly betting on mixed-use properties that are meant to attract various groups of users. - Combining offices, apartments, retail and services makes it possible to better use the potential of a plot. Mixed-use makes sense when the individual elements genuinely complement one another: office workers use retail and services during the day, and residents in the afternoon and evening - says director Wyka. - Thanks to this, properties do not empty after working hours and can be used more intensively and for longer - the director says. And so Noho One is being built on the site of the former Polfa Warszawa works, near the Daszyński Roundabout. Eight mixed-use buildings are planned on the five-hectare plot. Towarowa 22, on the 6.5-hectare site of the former Jupiter shopping centre, will in turn offer about 200 thousand sq m of space with various functions. On the Praga side of the Vistula, Port Praski is developing, one of the largest mixed-use investments in Poland. In the eight main regional markets there is just under 6.8 million sq m of workspace. Empty offices account for 16.4 percent, according to the Polish Chamber of Commercial Real Estate. Newmark Polska reports that in Katowice, in the first three quarters, developers delivered only 5.2 thousand sq m of offices, in Wrocław - 24.1 thousand sq m, and in Kraków - 27.3 thousand sq m. In each of these cities, demand was much greater: 59.7 thousand, 67.75 thousand and 150.8 thousand sq m of offices were leased, respectively. A real increase in demand is evidenced by so-called net absorption (new lease agreements and expansions), which in the first three quarters amounted to more than 98.2 thousand sq m in regional cities, an almost sevenfold year-on-year increase, confirming the gradual absorption of existing stock. - With such a ratio of new supply to demand, available supply will gradually shrink, even if tenant activity remains moderate. Companies in regional cities today have a large choice of interesting space, but such a broad offer will not last too long. Now is a good moment for relocation and negotiating favourable terms - believes Karol Wyka. At the same time, experts point out that in the regions one of the previous drivers of demand is weakening - the shared services sector. - Some companies in this sector are still increasing employment, but according to ABSL the growth rate is steadily declining - from double-digit levels a few years ago to 5 percent in 2024, 6.9 percent in 2025 and only 2.4 percent in 2026 - they report. Employment growth may be further limited by automation and the development of AI. A slowdown in demand in this sector does not mean, however, that tenants have unlimited time to decide to change offices. - Although in some cities vacancies still account for about one fifth of stock (Wrocław 21.3 percent and Katowice - 20.9 percent, Kraków - 17.7 percent), little new space is being added, and a high vacancy rate alone does not guarantee a wide choice of attractive premises - they note. In Warsaw, a class A office costs from 12 euros/sq m per month in Służewiec up to 35 euros in the COB. Karol Wyka forecasts that rents in the best locations will grow much faster than in other parts of the city. Rates are influenced not only by the demand-to-supply relationship but also, obviously, by the address. That is why, according to the expert, rental costs cannot be assessed in isolation from the company's total expenses, especially since an office usually accounts for only 7-9 percent of its operating costs. - If a better location encourages employees to use the headquarters more often, supports their effectiveness and allows space to be used better, a higher rent may be justified - says the director. The market is being influenced by changing work models and AI. - We do not know what the work environment will look like in ten years. That is why an office must be designed so that it can be expanded, reduced and adapted to new needs - summarizes Wyka.

Skanska booked a record 68 billion Swedish krona ($6.94 billion) in new orders in the third quarter, matching its second-quarter record. The Stockholm-based builder's backlog also hit a record 328.3 billion krona. Data centres and semiconductor facilities made up 22.7 billion krona of orders, about a third of the total. The US accounted for 46.9 billion krona, roughly 70%. Chief executive officer Anders Danielsson said Skanska plans to expand its US civil work in Florida, Utah, and Arizona. It will stay selective, turning down projects where it lacks the right partners. Operating income rose 52% year over year to 2.1 billion krona. Construction contributed 2.3 billion krona, up 29.2%, while 369 million krona in impairment charges on residential development weighed on the total.