According to “Office Occupier – Warsaw Office Market”, a report published by real estate advisory firm Newmark Polska, the first quarter of 2026 witnessed a slowdown in occupier activity in the Warsaw office market, following a very strong final quarter of the previous year. Office demand declined both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year. At the same time, development activity continued its downward trend, with the construction pipeline falling to its lowest level since 2011. The vacancy rate remained below 10%, despite an uptick compared with the fourth quarter of last year. Looking ahead, it is expected to edge down by the end of 2026.
At the end of March 2026, Warsaw’s total office stock stood at nearly 6.3 million sqm. Despite new office space coming on stream in the first quarter, the total remained largely unchanged compared with the same period in 2025. Close to 42,900 sqm was delivered to the Warsaw market in the three months to March 2026 across three projects. At the same time, almost 24,000 sqm of obsolete office stock was withdrawn from the market, bringing the total since early 2020 to over 400,000 sqm, of which approximately 60,000 sqm has been reintroduced through refurbished buildings.
“At the end of the first quarter of 2026, development activity fell to its lowest level since 2011, with just over 115,000 sqm under construction, representing a decrease of nearly 40% quarter-on-quarter and almost 52% year-on-year. While no new office projects broke ground during the period under review, developers have a pipeline of ready-to-launch projects and have already secured land for future developments,” says Karol Wyka, Executive Board Director, Head of Office Department, Newmark Polska.
Total office take-up in the first three months of 2026 crossed 133,800 sqm, down 8.8% year-on-year and almost 57% quarter-on-quarter.
“Notably, only one of the more than 200 leases signed in the period under review was for unit of between 5,000 sqm and 10,000 sqm. On the one hand, this reflects continued tenant caution and careful assessment of space requirements; on the other, it highlights the shrinking availability of larger units, particularly in prime locations and buildings. Central locations led leasing activity in the first quarter of 2026, with nearly 72,150 sqm transacted, making up close to 54% of total take-up. Non-central zones saw 61,700 sqm leased,” says Magdalena Zagórska, Director, Office Department, Newmark Polska.
As in the same period last year, in the first quarter of 2026 new leases accounted for the largest share of office take-up at 48%, with the remaining 52% split across renegotiations and renewals (39%), expansions (9%), prelets (3%) and owner-occupier transactions (1%). The most active tenants in the Warsaw office market in the past quarter were companies from sectors such as IT (19.7%), professional services (12.8%) and financial services (12%), as well as manufacturing sector entities (8.4%).
At the end of the first quarter of 2026, Warsaw’s vacancy rate stood at 9.5%, up marginally by 0.4 pp quarter-on-quarter and 1.0 pp year-on-year. Despite the anticipated quarterly increase it still remained below 10%.
“Projected limited new supply – estimated at approximately 6,300 sqm over the next three quarters – is expected to push the overall vacancy rate down to around 8% by year-end. It is also worth noting that, at the end of the first quarter, vacant office space in the Central Business District represented 5.9% of total stock in this zone, while in buildings completed after 2019 it was just 1.5%, reflecting a near absence of available space in projects delivered over the past five years in this office zone,” says Agnieszka Giermakowska, Research & Advisory Director, ESG Lead, Newmark Polska.
At the end of March 2026, prime monthly office rents ranged between EUR 22-28 per sqm in the city centre and EUR 16-18 per sqm in non-central locations. However, the shrinking availability of units of 4,000 sqm or more – particularly in central locations, where only a handful of buildings offer such options – is likely to put upward pressure on rents at the upper end of the market.
© Cresa Polska Sp. z o.o.