Romania’s industrial and logistics market is set to consolidate after the more than 300,000 square meters of modern space delivered in 2025, bringing total stock to approximately 8 million square meters, according to Colliers’ annual report. 

Demand for industrial and logistics space reached a record high in 2025, with publicly announced leasing transactions amounting to nearly 1 million square meters, compared to around 600,000 square meters in 2024. This volume is well above the annual average recorded between 2017 and 2019 and confirms the maturation of the local market. 

Colliers consultants emphasised that these figures include only publicly announced transactions, meaning that actual demand is most likely higher, given the significant number of direct transactions that are not publicly reported. 

Companies like CTP and WDP continued to expand their portfolios, while developers such as VGP, Element Industrial, Logicor, and Industra Parks accelerated their growth plans. 

Leasing activity was concentrated primarily in Bucharest, where companies such as LPP, Action, and Aquila signed major transactions in the northern and western areas of the capital, together accounting for almost a quarter of total demand in 2025. 

At the same time, the market is becoming increasingly diversified, driven by a higher number of mid-sized transactions. As a result, the average transaction size declined to approximately 7,500 square meters, compared with nearly 9,000 square meters in 2020. More than half of the volume, over 500,000 square meters, represented new demand or pre- leases, a clear signal of an active and well-balanced market.

“A significant share of new developments in 2025 took place outside Bucharest, signalling a clear expansion of the market towards cities and regions offering better labour availability and more competitive costs. This trend has attracted both established developers and new entrants,” according to Victor Coșconel, Partner | Head of Leasing | Office & Industrial Agencies at Colliers.

Overall, in 2025, most transactions came from the logistics and retail sectors, which together generated at least two-thirds of total demand, supported by domestic consumption. A large share of logistics demand serves local and regional companies focused on the Romanian market. Space leased for manufacturing accounted for a smaller share, of around 11%, a decline considered temporary due to the postponement of some projects to 2026 and the fact that many companies prefer to own the facilities in which they operate. 

Rents stabilised in 2025, with a built-to-suit warehouse in a prime location being leased, on average, at 4.5 - 5 euros per square meter in Bucharest and in the country’s main cities. By comparison, before 2021, rents were below 4 euros per square meter, indicating that the adjustments of recent years have already been absorbed by the market. At the same time, the vacancy rate remains low, at around 5% nationwide.

“One of Romania’s key strengths continues to be the rapid pace of infrastructure investment. The motorway and express road network has expanded from less than 1,000 km before the pandemic to approximately 1,400 km at present, with more than 300 km expected to be delivered in 2026 alone. Over the longer term, a further 1,000 km are in various stages of planning or construction,” concluded Victor Coșconel.

Relative to consumption levels and the intensity of foreign trade, Romania’s stock of industrial and logistics space remains undersized compared with other Central and Eastern European markets, supporting medium- and long-term growth prospects. In this context, the Romanian industrial and logistics market is expected to exceed the 8 million square meter threshold in 2026. Over the medium term, Colliers consultants believe that reaching a level of more than 10 million square meters is realistic, while by the end of the next decade, total stock could reach 15 million square meters.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Mariusika11|Dreamstime.com)