Tuesday, 29 September 2026
Poland’s retail park and convenience property market has attracted more than €2.5bn of investment since its first transaction in 2008, with almost 70% of that capital deployed since the beginning of 2020, according to the latest Retail Parks Uncovered report prepared by Avison Young with CMS, Newgate Investment and PROH. The acceleration reflects the transformation of retail parks from a relatively fragmented property segment into an increasingly institutional investment market.
Large portfolio transactions have played an important role in that change, particularly during 2025 and the first half of 2026. Since the beginning of 2025, investors from the US and Central and Eastern Europe have together accounted for around 60% of transaction volume, according to Avison Young. Capital from Israel, the Baltics and other parts of Europe has further broadened the buyer base as larger portfolios have allowed institutional investors to establish exposure to the sector more quickly.
Investor competition is also beginning to affect pricing expectations. Avison Young expects downward pressure on yields for the strongest retail parks, although the extent of any repricing will depend on individual property characteristics and financing conditions. Outside the largest markets, investors are paying particular attention to location, catchment size, regional importance, lease duration and tenant composition, with food-anchored schemes generally attracting stronger pricing.
The attraction of Polish retail parks is partly based on the yield difference that remains compared with more established Western European markets. At the same time, the Polish market has developed greater transaction liquidity and a larger pool of institutional buyers than many neighbouring CEE markets. This is encouraging investors to consider the sector not simply as a higher-yielding alternative to Western Europe, but increasingly as a longer-term income-producing property allocation.
The changing market is also influencing investment strategies. Newgate Investment, for example, is seeking to build a wider retail park platform through a combination of acquisitions, redevelopment and new construction. Existing operating properties remain central to its strategy, particularly in regional and medium-sized cities where established catchments can provide opportunities to improve tenant mix, modernise buildings and upgrade environmental performance.
Redevelopment could become increasingly important as the Polish retail park network matures. Existing properties can benefit from established customer patterns, visibility and sites secured before competition for suitable land intensified. Modernising such assets can offer an alternative to greenfield development, although refurbishment while maintaining trading activity introduces its own construction, leasing and operational challenges.
New development nevertheless remains part of the market’s expansion. Investors including Newgate are using structures such as forward purchases and forward funding to secure projects before completion, particularly in locations where developers identify demand for additional modern retail space. The continued construction pipeline means investors are able to choose between completed income-producing properties, redevelopment opportunities and assets still under development.
The next phase of the market is likely to be more selective. Poland’s retail park network has expanded rapidly and research from JLL indicates that almost 90% of the population is now within a 30-minute journey of a shopping centre or retail park, compared with less than 70% in 2018. As geographic coverage increases, opportunities may increasingly depend on the quality of individual locations, tenant demand and active management rather than simply adding new retail space.
The €2.5bn already invested therefore marks more than the expansion of another retail format. Polish retail parks are developing into a deeper institutional investment market in which portfolio scale, income security, redevelopment potential and asset quality are becoming increasingly important. If investor competition continues while development opportunities become more selective, the sector’s next stage could be shaped as much by consolidation and repositioning of existing properties as by construction of new parks.
