The modern office space store in Bucharest will be at the end of the second quarter (2Q) in 2018 at about 2.85 million square meters. In the first quarter (1Q) approximately 28,000 m2 were delivered, and approximately 64,000 m2 will be completed in Q2. Estimates in the next three years will result in the completion of over 900,000 m2 of office buildings, of which around 185,000 m2 are scheduled for delivery in 2018 and 350,000 m2 in 2019.
"Demand for office space is steadily increasing in Bucharest, and with a vacancy rate of around 8.4%, the need for new projects is evident. Currently, if a company wants to rent offices for 200 employees in a building near a subway station, they may not find it! Identifying optimal spaces takes at least 12 months, but it would be ideal to have 24 months", said Mihai Păduroiu, CBRE Romania's Head of Advisory & Transaction Services – Office.
Currently, eight office projects are under development in the capital, with completion dates in 2018. They will occupy over 157,000 m2, of which 61% will be delivered in buildings located in the western area and 22% in the central area, as follows:
• Four projects in the West: Campus 6.1 building, Orhideea Towers, the first building in Afi Tech Park, the Berlin Building - part of the Sema New Project reconversion project
• Three projects in the center: Unirii View, Day Tower and D'or
• A project in the Central Business District (CBD): The Mark
• To this is added the second building of the Globalworth Campus, completed in Q1 in the Pipera area
By the end of 2018, the modern office space stock will reach 2.95 million square meters.
In Q1, the office space segment recorded 52 rental transactions totaling 65,500 m2. The ranges of activities of the companies with most of the requests registered are: industrial production and energy with 36% of the total, IT with 23% and retail with 16%. Net demand, which does not include renegotiations and renewals, accounts for 82% of the rental activity in Q1.
Of total demand, 36% represented relocations, followed by pre-rentals, with 34%. According to CBRE estimates, this share will remain stable in the coming quarters due to the large number of projects under construction or whose development will begin in the future. The average contract rent remains unchanged compared to the last period and is estimated at 18.5 euro / m2 / month.
The most active areas, both in terms of total demand and new demand, were in the central area and the western area, followed by the northern area. Offices in central and western Bucharest recorded 34% of the total demand, and the northern area, 19%. In 2019, 57% of the 350,000 m2 planned for completion will be delivered to the Western area of the city.
Regarding the evolution of the rental activity, the trend is increasing from 2012 and the vacancy rate is in a continuous decline since 2013. (source: CBRE Romania)
