Warehouse construction in Russia: regional demand grows 50% in three years
Published on 12/10/2015
Increased demand for warehouse space is driving construction markets in Russia in 2015, especially in regional areas, with Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg leading the way in new facilities. Some Russian regions are seeing warehouse vacancy rates of just 1%.
Consulting company Knight Frank analysed the results from the first half of 2015 for the warehouse real estate market of 13 regional towns in Russia. The research included towns such as Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Samara, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa, Perm, Chelyabinsk, Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, and Vladivostok.
According to Knight Frank’s calculations, regional towns have demonstrated an increase in the volume of take-up for warehouse space in the past three years, attracting local, national and foreign renters and buyers – in total, take-up has increased by 50% since 2012. Yekaterinburg (795,000 sqm) and Novosibirsk (743,000 sqm) have the highest volume of quality warehouse space, whilst Krasnoyarsk (89,000 sqm) and Vladivostok (61,000 sqm) have the lowest.
The highest rent rates, matching those of Moscow warehouses, can be found in Yekaterinburg – 450-550 roubles per sqm per month, Chelyabinsk – 490-520 roubles per sqm per month, Rostov-on-Don – 420-500 roubles per sqm per month and Vladivostok – 420-500 roubles per sqm per month.
Ufa (0.5%), Perm (1%), Krasnoyarsk (1%) and Vladivostok (2%) have the lowest levels of vacant warehouses due to a lack of quality facilities in these towns.
“The development of regional warehouse complexes has attracted quality proposals in every major city”, says Vyacheslav Kholopov, Partner and Director of Warehouse Real Estate, Knight Frank Russia & CIS. “Towards the end of 2014, we even noticed a shift in demand towards regional centres and a reduction in the Moscow area’s share of deals made.”