Expo Real 2012: Logistics specialist Prologis is considering speculative development in some European markets during the next year or so.
And, as European president Philip Dunne told EuroProperty, “we will dip our toe in the water in each key market where there are no buildings of a certain size”.
The company recently announced a speculative scheme at Dunstable in the UK north of London, and earlier this year delivered spec schemes in Paris and Hamburg with another underway in Bratislava.
Dunne said further projects are possible in the UK’s West Midlands, near Heathrow airport, Paris and iHamburg and Munich. “In Sweden, Stockholm and Gothenburg could take some supply,” Dunne said.
Silesia and Upper Silesia in Poland are also “strong and supply is getting tighter”.
Dunne said that the European logistics market has virtually no new supply of speculatively built space with a shrinking availability of modern buildings in core locations. There is now upward pressure on rents, which is making speculative development feasible in the 18,580 m2 to 27,870 m2 range.
Dunne said that while the downside to Europe is the “consistent and continual uncertainty” in the financial markets he added that there were positive signs.
“For the first time in four years, we are looking at meaningful change and markets have absorbed their oversupply,” he said.
