PRAGUE-Space vacancies in Czech industrial and logistics property dipped below 9% from 10.4% in first quarter, its fifth successive quarterly decline, consultant DTZ reports. This may fall further this year as most of the supply pipeline has been pre-leased, and prime headline rents are expected to increase slightly towards the year-end.

Headline rents remained stable at €3.60-€4.30 per square meter in Prague and the regions, with DTZ forecasting an increase to €4.40 toward year-end driven by a shortage of available stock. The sharpest quarterly vacancy drop was a halving in central Moravia to 10.6%, and Moravia-Silesia submarkets, more than halved to 6.1%. Vacancy rates rose slightly in west and central Bohemia and the D1 Corridor submarket hit as high as 11.7%.

Total stock of modern industrial space reached 40 million square feet, including first quarter new supply of 220,000 square feet. Some 2.4 million square feet of modern class-A warehouse space is currently under construction. First-quarter net take-up slid 17% from Q1 2010 to 1.2 million square feet, and was highest in South Moravia.