On the other hand, office developers did not deliver any new building in Bucharest in Q3.
Bucharest companies leased in the third quarter offices with a total area of 68,000 square meters, 5% more than the similar period of 2016, for renewals, extensions or relocations, with recruitment plans for approximately 4,000 jobs, according to an analysis by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.
By far, most of the request was generated by companies in the IT & C and BPO sectors, which leased in Q3 spaces with a cumulated area of 55,000 square meters, accounting for about 80% of the volume of transactions.
Of the area traded, the renewals amount to almost 8,000 square meters, the relocation covers approximately 23,000 square meters, while spaces with a surface area of approximately 37,000 square meters were leased by companies that expand or have decided to start new operations in Bucharest.
"The office market has sound fundamentals, based on a healthy demand, especially from international corporations that find in Bucharest and other university centers in the country an optimal mix of employee quality, salary levels and rental rates. We expect the level of transactions to accelerate over the next period, as 2018 is announced a year with significant deliveries of over 300,000 square meters in Bucharest and about 100,000 square meters in regional cities", says Mădălina Cojocaru, Partner, Office Agency C&W Echinox.
Regarding the preferred areas, 33% of the area traded is in Pipera buildings, followed by the West (22%) and the CBD (22%), while the Central-North, the most dynamic in recent years, accounted for only 9% of the volume, while the vacancy rate is only 4%, and new deliveries are not expected for this year.
Overall, in the first nine months of this year, office space with a total surface area of 238,000 square meters was traded, down 7% from the same period of the previous year, amid a lower level of deliveries.
Thus, while new spaces of 275,000 square meters were delivered in Bucharest in 2016, this year 155,000 sqm new spaces are expected to be delivered, with the stock going to reach almost 2.7 million square metres. (source: zf.ro)
