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Transparency and data. The future of Polish real estate market

– Developed markets have easier access to information. Western Europe, the USA, there is much more transparency there. No one makes a secret of what has been rented, how many metres, for how much and for how many years – says Jarosław Prawicki, Leasing Director at Karimpol Polska. A representative of the owner of Warsaw’s Skyliner has no doubt that the availability of information will be one of the pillars of the future of Polish office segment.  

Office building in a smartphone 

Technology in the real estate sector has accelerated, especially during the pandemic. Every modern office building now has an app to help manage it. The era of plastic entry cards is a thing of the past. The building is in a smartphone. 

– The app helps us to rotate desks and parking spaces between employees in such a way that the landlord makes the best use of the space. We can plan a client’s entire office, a bit like in the case of a co-working area, but exclusively within one company – says Jarosław Prawicki, Leasing Director at Karimpol Polska.

With all this progress in the industry, one thing still limps along – the availability of data. And according to Jaroslaw Prawicki, openness of information is fundamental, not only in real estate. 

– Developed markets have easier access to information. Western Europe, the USA, there is much more transparency there. No one makes a secret of what has been rented, how many metres, for how much, for how many years – the expert adds. 

Prawicki cites REDD Group as a forerunner of transparency in real estate on the Polish market. The startup has brought together several billion pieces of data on more than 2,000 commercial properties in a short period of time and makes money precisely from its transparency.

– Thanks to us, those looking for a specific office space can get a full report with the most suitable locations in just a few minutes. Our data is fully accessible to our customers. This is no longer the time of Excel tables that you have to wait a week for. With REDD, customers basically get real-time action – explains Piotr Smagała, Managing Director at REDD.

The wave of modernisation is coming

What is the future of real estate in Poland? According to Jaroslaw Prawicki, limitation of remote work is inevitable. It is due to the fact that managers (but also employees themselves) see its disadvantages more and more frequently. In the expert’s opinion, the hybrid mode will stay with us, but with an emphasis on the work in an office. 

In addition, the specialist predicts that there will be fewer real estate agents – increasingly both parties, tenant and landlord, are able to communicate directly. The workflow of documents will also be simplified. Karimpol already signs most of its contracts electronically.

– REDD goes even further. Already now – like in a computer game – the clients themselves can update with us the value of their property at any time and let the searchers know that the data is up to date – explains Piotr Smagała. – ‘We are also about to introduce an AI tool that enables us to forecast the value of office buildings many years ahead. This makes it possible for us to have 16 billion pieces of data on these buildings, available at any time, in infinite configurations – he points out. 

On the other hand, Prawicki predicts that the building trend will be joined by a trend of… rebuilding. 

– We are facing a big wave of modernisation of older buildings, it is becoming increasingly difficult to buy new plots of land, so existing facilities will have to be adapted. The EU’s green policy will also force us to do this, but above all it will turn out to be cheaper. When a tenant compares the rental costs in the ‘old’ space to those in one built in recent years, they will clearly see the difference – says Jarosław Prawicki, Leasing Director at Karimpol Polska.

As the expert announces, Karimpol will increasingly rely on ‘future proof’ facilities. So much so that he himself intends to enter the renewable energy sector to have a greater impact on the quality of his properties. According to Prawicki, in this business,only one thing will not change – good location will be still winning.