Wola is like a small town
The business success of Wola - and the vicinity of Rondo Daszyńskiego in particular - lies in its diversity, inclusivity and strong offer tailored to the needs of local inhabitants and office workers whose numbers are growing at pace.
“There are 11,500 people living within a 10-minute walk from Rondo Daszyńskiego - this figure is expected to double following the completion of planned residential buildings. 15 housing projects announced for this area will deliver approximately 4,000 new flats for sale and nearly the same number of BTR flats by the end of 2027. The growing attractiveness of this area is also evidenced by passenger traffic at Rondo Daszyńskiego metro station, which serves 610,000 passengers a month - this number is expected to grow to more than 1.8 million by 2040,” comments Ewa Derlatka-Chilewicz, Head of Research, Cushman & Wakefield.
Meanwhile, the construction of office buildings saw the number of office workers in the vicinity of Rondo Daszyńskiego rise from 19,000 in 2014 to 40,000 in 2024. This figure is projected to reach 55,000 in 2030. This area, therefore, appears to be one of the most sought-after work destinations in Poland.
“The vicinity of Rondo Daszyńskiego is perfectly aligned with the concept of a 15-minute city, which is valued by both local residents and office commuters. According to our report, within a 10-minute walk from Rondo Daszyńskiego there are more than 2,200 points of interest, including 1,200 businesses, 500 retail stores, 360 restaurants, 60 healthcare facilities and 45 entertainment and arts venues. This zone also contains 20% of total retail space available in Warsaw’s office buildings. This shows that developers are becoming increasingly aware of the placemaking nature of ground floor retail in office buildings in creating a friendly environment to work and live in,” adds Jan Szulborski, Business Development and Insights Manager, Asset Services, Cushman & Wakefield.
The competition for prime land is set to continue
The Wola district, with the vicinity of Rondo Daszyńskiego in particular, has been the fastest-growing office hub since 2014.
“Wola has seen 670,000 sq m added to its office stock in the last ten years, an increase of over 140% compared to around 42% for the Warsaw office market as a whole,” says Ewa Derlatka-Chilewicz.
The pandemic and the inflationary crisis that followed disrupted office supply and demand. In 2016-2022 an average of approximately 280,000 sq m was delivered to the Warsaw office market each year. Office development activity, however, slowed down in the last two years, with just under 215,000 sq m of new space under construction in the second quarter of 2024.
“While development activity in Warsaw is expected to pick up after 2026, land availability will shrink by the year. This will be most pronounced in Wola on account of its gravitational pull and unwavering demand for land in this area coming from residential and commercial property developers,” adds Jan Szulborski.
Wola showed resilience during the pandemic
The years 2011-2020 saw a boom on the Warsaw office market. Total annual leasing activity in those nine years averaged 715,000 sq m, rising to 828,000 sq m in 2015-2019.
“Unfortunately, the outbreak of the pandemic forced Warsaw tenants to rethink their plans. As a result, office demand in the Polish capital weakened significantly in 2020-2021. However, this was not the case in the vicinity of Rondo Daszyńskiego, which saw relatively strong leasing activity, with double-digit growth in take-up of 18% between 2014-2019 and 2020-2021, and 11% in 2022-2023,” explains Vitalii Arkhypenko, Market Analyst, Cushman & Wakefield.
In 2018-2023, demand in the vicinity of Rondo Daszyńskiego was strongly driven by large-scale tenants. With office construction activity remaining relatively robust in this period, pre-lets accounted for a record high of nearly 55% (390,000 sq m) of all pre-let agreements signed in Warsaw in these years. In addition, in 2021-2023, tenants renegotiated office leases for a combined area of almost 185,000 sq m in this part of Warsaw.
“The most active occupier groups in Wola between 2018 and the second quarter of 2024 were financial companies and the IT & R&D sector, accounting for nearly 27% and 17% of total take-up respectively. Wola attracts not only the private sector, but also the public sector which contributed almost 7% to the transaction volume in this period. Government bodies which are increasingly looking for modern, well-connected office locations are naturally shifting their attention to the vicinity of Rondo Daszyńskiego,” adds Joanna Blumert, Head of Occupier Services, Cushman & Wakefield.
Strong demand for offices in Wola amid a downturn in construction activity has resulted in shrinking office availability. Since the third quarter of 2021, Wola has experienced the fastest fall in office vacancies of all the office zones in Warsaw (-9.3 pp). In addition, the vicinity of Rondo Daszyńskiego has been the key destination for relocation since the completion of M2 metro line. This is borne out by net absorption which hit a record high of over half a million square metres between 2018 and the second quarter of 2024, accounting for around 43% of total absorption in the Polish capital.
“The vicinity of Rondo Daszyńskiego is a good example of modern and multifunctional space which is seeing new class A office projects break ground and successfully commercialized. Due to low vacancy rates as well as continued demand for office space in this part of Warsaw and residential developers’ appetite, land availability is shrinking at a rapid pace. Unsurprisingly, the first major core investment transaction in some time took place here in the first half of 2024 in which we advised Skanska on its sale of Studio B. Given the improving investment market, we expect that this part of Wola will become an epicentre for transactional activity in the next 12-18 months,” concludes Marcin Kocerba, Partner, Capital Markets w Cushman & Wakefield.
