The Romanian industrial market is going through a period of significant growth and development. With record volumes and a steady upward trend, the market is attracting investors from all over the world and presents appealing opportunities for expansion, according to JLL real estate consultancy company.

In 2022, total demand for industrial space in Romania exceeded the record set the previous year by 15.6 percent, reaching almost 1.17 million sqm leased. In the same period, net demand increased by 28.7 percent to almost 935,500 sqm.

“We are going through a very active period in terms of demand for new industrial space. We believe the most important signal is the substantial increase in demand for new production spaces, which will create new jobs. These jobs in production sites are all the more important as the complexity of the products to be manufactured there tends to be very high, resulting in new demand for skilled labour. The demand for logistics space continues to have the largest share in the total demand for industrial space, based on consumption that remains high,” said Ionuț Grigoraș, Senior Consultant Industrial at JLL Romania.

In the last quarter of 2022, total demand for industrial space amounted to 370,000 sqm, down by 23.5 percent compared to Q4 2021. Net demand amounted to 310,000 sqm, also down by 7.3 percent compared to Q4 2021.

Demand for industrial space in 2022 came mainly from retail (21.5 percent of the total), logistics (13.4 percent), distribution of consumer goods (7.2 percent) and e-commerce/e-commerce (6.2 percent).

Deliveries of industrial space also reached a record level in 2022, rising to almost 875,000 sqm, 58 percent more than in 2021. Almost 270,000 sqm were completed in Q4 alone.

“Developers of modern industrial space remain confident in the growth potential of the market amidst demand that remains at a high level. Diversification of demand by increasing the number of requests for production space, temperature-controlled space or data centers fuels optimism among investors,” said Ionuț Grigoraș, Senior Industrial Consultant at JLL Romania.

Deliveries of industrial space will remain at a fairly high level in 2023, with developers planning at least 510,000 sqm.

Against the backdrop of the record delivery volume, the vacancy rate increased at the country level from 3.6 percent in Q3 to 4.4 percent in Q4, and in the Bucharest region from 4.2 percent in Q3 to 5.3 percent in Q4, but still remains at a low level.

Rents in Q4 remained at the same level as in the previous quarter, with the prime rent (for the best spaces in the market) remaining at 4.25 Euro per sqm per month. Rent increases are possible in 2023 amid high inflation.