Last year, developers completed new office projects totaling 145,000 square meters, and the area leased by real estate consultants was 335,000 square meters, out of which 45% (150,000 square meters) represented new demand.
If we also take into account the direct transactions between tenants and landlords, the leased area goes far beyond the new offer put on the market by the developers. In addition, some of the spaces delivered in 2018 were already contracted from previous years.
"Even if there are significant differences between the 12 office submarkets in Bucharest in terms of the available area, the vacancy rate continued to decrease in 2018 to a historic minimum, amid a relatively modest evolution of the development activity in 2017 and 2018. Net demand remained at comparable levels over the past two years, around 150,000 square meters, therefore absorbing the new offer", said Marius Scuta, head of office agency and tenant representation JLL Romania.
Thus, the fewest available spaces are in the North-Center, Floreasca Barbu-Vacarescu, Center, Center-West and CBD areas, where the vacancy rate is below 5%, while Baneasa - Otopeni and Pipera Nord include most of the unoccupied spaces.
"We see areas where there are virtually no options for a prospective tenant who wants to expand. Due to the low availability of space, we could see a rent increase, so those looking for office space need to make quick decisions. For those who want to move in the first half of this year, the speed of reaction and decision-making is decisive to obtain attractive rents. We see a gap between the speed of development of new projects and the pace at which companies expand, that will most likely begin to decline this year if we look at developers' plans for 2019 and 2020, namely the construction of about 700,000 square meters of new projects", said Maria Florea, head of office agency JLL Romania.
The prime rent in Bucharest was maintained for five years at a rate of 18.5 euro / sq m / month, with changes being recorded at the level of the facilities offered by the office owners. In 2019, if all the announced projects are completed, the new surface will grow by about 300,000 square meters, out of which 50% is already pre-leased, according to JLL Romania.
The areas with the lowest vacancy rates will benefit from the largest deliveries this year, so in Floreasca - Barbu Vacarescu two large projects will be completed, totaling more than 40,000 square meters, in CBD the stock will grow by 30,000 meters squares, and in the Center-West three projects are announced, with a total of over 80,000 square meters. (source: wall-street.ro)
