The spaces exceeding 3,000 sq. m raised the office market in Bucharest in Q1

The other two market segments – transactions with spaces below 1,000 sq. m and transactions with spaces between 1,001 and 3,000 sq. m – maintain to a similar level as the precedent years, between 14,000 and 15,000 sq. m.

„In the first quarter of 2014 a number of 36 transactions with office spaces below 1,000 sq. m brought a nearly equal volume to a number of 16 transactions with spaces between 1,001 sq. m and 3,000 sq. m, but smaller than the volume of the three contracts exceeding 3,000 sq. m, signed in this period. Evaluating the evolutions registered in the first quarter of the past three years (2012-2014), we can say that the transactions below 3,000 sq. m are giving the market its constancy and stability, while the transactions exceeding 3,000 sq. m gives it its dynamic and growth”, said Alexandru Petrescu, managing partner of Esop Consulting l CORFAC International.

“The balance sheet of the first quarter and the large number of negotiations started in this period for new office rentals are making us optimistic regarding the evolution of the next quarters in 2014 on the office market”, he added.

If in the first quarter of 2013 the transactions with spaces exceeding 3,000 sq. m only represented 19% (7,000 sq. m), in 1Q 2014 they went up to 43%, with 22,600 sq.m. respectively.

The other two segments, representing the largest number of transactions – spaces below 1,000 sq. m and between 1,001 and 3,000 sq. m – have equal shares, with very small volume variation in the first quarter of last three years.

In 1Q 2014 the total transaction activity on the office market had an average growth of 17% compared to the average of the first quarters of 2013 and 2012.

Considering the transaction types, the engine of this positive evolution on the office market in Q1 2014 was the relocation activity, the office transactions which relocated the clients in new premises, either through office renting, expansion or prelease.

On the other hand the contract renewal volume has decreased with 37% compared to Q1 2013, which means that the offers existing on the market in the first quarter of this year proved to be better than the previous renting solutions.

An important aspect is also the total preleases volume growth, which reached 30% of the total market volume in Q1 2014. (source: dailybusiness.ro)