Manufacturing dominates the industrial space market in the Czech Republic - tenants with higher added value are coming to the country

The leases of domestic industrial halls in the Czech Republic have a number of specifics in the Central European context. But one parameter stands out above the rest: over the last three years, the logistics segment has been dominated by manufacturing in concluded lease transactions. And by a large margin. According to real estate consultancy 108 REAL ESTATE, over 550,000 sqm of industrial space was leased to manufacturing or processing companies in the whole of 2025. This was a 42% share of the total volume of transactions. Logistics-related tenants accounted for 33.85% of the total, while the remaining 24% belonged to retail, services and others. In total, approximately 1.3 million sqm of new industrial properties were occupied by new tenants in 2025.

In the case of the Czech Republic, this is the third year in a row that modern industrial space has been occupied most often by manufacturing or production companies. In 2024 and 2023, the share of this type of tenants even exceeded 50% of the leased space. Just for comparison with the countries where 108 REAL ESTATE operates: logistics clearly dominated last year in Slovakia (55%) and Hungary (almost 50%). In both countries, manufacturing accounted for roughly one-third of the leased space.

"We assess this development very positively. It shows a stable and predictable economic environment and it is also an expression of the quality of the labour market in the Czech Republic, at least in some sectors. It is often manufacturing that increases average salaries in the regions, and this type of tenants or owners plan to stay in the country for a longer period of time," comments Jakub Holec, CEO of 108 REAL ESTATE.

In addition, many of the leases added value to the Czech Republic's production capacity last year - for example, they are linked to research and development. Among the most significant leases in 2025 were the expansion of ZF Automotive Czech in Panattoni Park Ostrov, Linde Wiemann in Industrial Park Nymburk, Procter & Gamble in CTPark Prague North or the pre-lease of Sungwood Hitech in P3 Ostrava Central.

According to 108 REAL ESTATE, in 2025 a number of transactions took place in the segment from 5 to approx. 15,000 sqm. The latter is particularly important in terms of potential further tenant expansion in the event of successful operations. These included, for example, the pre-lease of ABB Concern in CTPark Blučina, Assa Abloy in Pilsen Silver Industrial Park, Bilfinger/Dopharma in Contera Park Teplice, EXCON in Industrial Park Újezdeček, Hella Autotechnik Nova in VGP Park Olomouc or Confitex Technology in BM Parks in Litovel.

Despite the predominance of manufacturing companies in leases above 5,000 m², a number of significant leases are signed by logistics operators or retail companies. In 2025, some of the most significant transactions from non-manufacturing segments included Rohlík.cz, VAFO (warehouse/manufacturing combination), Zásilkovna / Packeta, Mondi, iPrice, MailStep or Expeditors. In total, over 443,000 sqm was leased last year to tenants in the logistics sector and over 300,000 sqm to companies operating in wholesale, retail, e-commerce, services and other sectors.

According to Matěj Indra, Head of Industrial Agency at 108 REAL ESTATE, a significant part of the leases in the manufacturing sector were made by domestic entrepreneurs. They know the local environment and conditions intimately. Their optimism and desire to expand production is strengthened, among other things, by the interest of foreign customers:

"Based on the daily meetings and analyses we prepare for interested parties, we see a clear tendency to shorten the supplier-customer paths. This is probably not evidence of deglobalisation, but in addition to closer cooperation between companies operating in the EU, we are also seeing more frequent enquiries from American or Asian companies."

The industrial real estate market therefore indicates the effects of the geopolitical situation, which is in the grip of several military conflicts, tensions in the power centres and rising commodity prices, including oil.

Uncertain developments in many regions of the world make the Czech Republic and the countries of Central Europe and partly the Balkans a safe zone for investment - both in terms of production and consumption. The motivation of investors and entrepreneurs linked to manufacturing points to an attractive combination of infrastructure and a network of cooperating firms. Despite rising wages, labour remains available in combination with efficiency. The arguments why tenants or direct owners of manufacturing space chose the Czech Republic also include the argument of quality universities and secondary (technical) schools and a fairly functional system of cooperation with science and research. According to 108 REAL ESTATE, government incentives are important and work mainly in terms of reaching out to interested parties, but not decisively. Nevertheless, the role of the CzechInvest agency is very important in this respect.