Demand for warehouses in Russia’s regions is breaking historical records
Source：Vedomosti
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Moscow
Update Time：2023/07/22
The total volume of transactions in the regional warehouse market for the first half of 2023 amounted to 627,000 sq. m, as indicated in the analytical report of the consulting company NF Group. It follows from it that this is the highest indicator for the first six months of the year in the entire history of observations. For example, in the first half of last year, various companies rented or purchased 318,000 sq. m. m of warehouses (630,000 sq. m. m – for all 12 months). In January – June 2021, the volume of transactions was even smaller – 281,000 sq. m., in the first half of 2020, the situation was slightly better – 394,000 sq. m.
The trend of increasing activity in the regional warehouse market is also confirmed by other consultants, although their calculations differ from the data of NF Group. For example, according to Ekaterina Nogai, head of the IBC Real Estate Research and Analytics Department, according to preliminary data, 454,000 sq.m. were commissioned and purchased in the Russian regions (excluding the Moscow Region and St. Petersburg) from January to June. m of warehouse space. Nevertheless, she calls the current demand "record".
Among the largest deals in the lease by the online retailer Ozon of large speech parks in Saratov, Yekaterinburg, and Kazan. In addition, the logistics operator "Business Lines" has agreed to rent 40,000 sq. m. this year. m in the industrial park "Tura 2.0" in Tatarstan.
The increase in demand for warehouses this year is a continuation of the trend that began in 2021, according to the senior director of the warehouse and industrial real estate department CORE.XP Anton Alyabyev. He clarifies that last year the growth of this segment slowed down due to the instability in the market after the start of its. "Online retailers, despite the volumes of warehouse space they already have, continue to develop logistics infrastructure throughout the country, including in remote and less populated regions," he explains.
Viktor Afanasenko, Regional director of the Warehouse and Industrial Real Estate Department of Nikoliers, agrees with this, who also says that large retailers and companies from the e-commerce sector are expanding their presence in the regions by opening new stores and increasing supplies. All this, according to him, leads to an increase in the number of goods that need to be stored and processed in warehouses. And the director of the company "Ricci | Warehouses" Dmitry Gerastovsky draws attention to the fact that many regional and Moscow companies that previously planned to build warehouses themselves for their own needs, eventually had to turn to professional developers. This, in his opinion, also led to an increase in the number of transactions in the regions.
The activity in the warehouse market in many cities of Russia will continue further, the market experts interviewed by Vedomosti are sure. Konstantin Fomichenko, Regional Director of the Department of Industrial and Warehouse Real Estate at NF Group, says that the share of vacant space in many Russian cities is declining. For example, in Samara and Kazan, the vacancy rate during the last half of the year was less than 1%, Nogai adds. A similar situation is developing in Yekaterinburg. And in Novosibirsk and Krasnodar, on the contrary, new warehouse blocks are being released, which leads to an increase in the share of vacant premises and a decrease in rental rates.
The shortage of high-quality warehouses hinders the development of online retailers and logistics operators, experts say. Thus, according to NF Group, in the first half of the year, only 308,000 sq.m. were commissioned in the regions. m of logistics areas. But the arrival of major players can become an incentive for the construction of facilities, Alyabyev is sure. He recalls that the same Ozon has already agreed with the developer PFD Group on the construction of large logistics centers in Orenburg and Omsk for 117 000 sq. m. m everyone. Moreover, according to Alyabyev, only in the next two years the total area of such facilities may increase by another 4 million square meters. m – primarily due to the development of regional logistics capacities.
"The development of regional logistics is a key priority of the company, as it allows us to be closer to the consumer and shorten the delivery time," says the representative of Ozon. According to him, since 2020, the volume of logistics infrastructure at the online retailer has grown 6 times and the company does not plan to stop.
Source: https://www.vedomosti.ru/realty/articles/2023/07/06/983957-spros-na-skladi-v-regionah-bet-istoricheskie-rekordi?utm_campaign=newspaper_6_7_2023&utm_medium=email&utm_source=vedomosti