Investors are planning to allocate more money to the purchase of residential assets in Europe this year, JLL shows.
This type of investment is set to grow throughout 2021, following the robust performance of the market throughout 2020, which resulted in €83.4bn being invested into the sector.
Living assets made up 13% of asset allocations from respondents, with that set to increase to 21% if full investment ambitions were realised.
With only 11% of respondents looking to decrease their allocation to Living assets, the hunt for suitable stock to invest in is becoming increasingly competitive.
The percentage of respondents looking to increase their allocation to Living assets has grown steadily since the first Living Investor Survey from 41% to 59%.
While investors are determined to increase their allocation to the sector, 78% have identified a lack of suitable product as being a major barrier to accomplishing this.
While only 8% of respondents have exposure to all five sub-sectors of Living assets, JLL’s forecast expects this to grow to 27%.
Clearly there is a substantial shift towards diversifying investments in the Living sector, and investors will be growing operational expertise to meet these ambitions.
Not only are investors looking to diversify within Living assets, but nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents said they are looking to expand to at least one additional market.
Addressing barriers to entry from an investment perspective, 78% of respondents identified a lack of suitable product as restricting them from investing.
This is evidenced by the fact that 30% of all purchasing activity in 2020 was for assets not yet completed.
The total CEE investment volume in 2020 reached a total of over €9.7 billion, representing an almost 32% decline from 2019, JLL reports.
Poland continued its dominance with 57% of total CEE volume and notably a strong year in logistics. Q1 was very active with roll-over deals from 2019 but as the year progressed volumes declined compared to previous years with a country total of €5.6 billion.
This is a 30% decline from 2019, but still the 3rd highest volume on record.
Czech Republic registered the largest deal in its history with the Residomo transaction of €1.3 billion
Excluding this transaction, the Czech market saw a 52% decline in volumes. Investor demand remains strong for core product but there were limited core office transactions – notably only Churchill Square and Rustonka, both in Prague.
Investment volumes declined by 32% in Slovakia
In Slovakia, despite a very promising start to the year and expectations of 1bn, investment volumes actually declined by 32% as a result of Covid-19.
Investor demand remains in strong for core and core+ industrial product as the occupational market recovered in Q4 2020.
CEE Investments Volumes / Data gathered by JLL
In 2020, prime yields saw some upward pressure in comparison to 2019, with the most visible decompression in the office and retail sectors. The logistics sector is expected to see some small compression as 2021.
In Hungary there was a smaller decline of 25% with a market dominated by the office sector representing 65% of investment volume.
The previous high dominance of domestic capital in 2019 has been reversed back in 2020 to an equal split between foreign and domestic capital.
Romania, the only country in the region to show an increase
In Romania, 2020 started with a large pipeline of transactions; several high-profile office deals were in advanced stages of negotiation.
While the outbreak of COVID-19 had a significant impact on the investment market, the total transaction volume for 2020 represented a significant increase from 2019.
The only country in the region to show an increase, driven mainly by the large NEPI Rockcastle portfolio acquired by AFI.
The developers of industrial and logistics spaces completed last year new projects with an area of about 600,000 square meters, thus maintaining the investment plan announced at the beginning of the year, despite the COVID-19 crisis.
In 2020, most of the projects were developed in Bucharest and the surrounding area, which accumulated almost 80% of the built area, respectively 465,000 square meters.
New project delivered by areas (2020)
Area
New projects sqm
% in total deliveries
Bucharest (extended area)
465,100
79.3
Center
67,800
11.6
West – Northe-West
25,000
4.3
South-East
20,300
3.5
South-West
8,400
1.4
South
0
0.0
East
0
0.0
Total
586,600
100
Thus, the stock of industrial and logistics spaces in Romania exceeded the threshold of 5 million square meters, reaching 5.05 million square meters, from 4.46 million square meters at the end of 2019.
In regional profile, by far most areas are found in the extended area of Bucharest (over 54% of the national stock), followed by West – North-West (17%), Center (15%), and South (almost 11%).
The rest of the areas account for only 3% of the total stock but offer opportunities for future growth.
New investments in 2021
Despite the pandemic, 2020 was a record year for industrial space transactions. At the national level, over 670,000 square meters of industrial space were leased, increasing by approximately 15% compared to the volume recorded in 2019, in turn, a record year.
Out of the total demand of 670,000 square meters, the net demand represented over 70%, respectively 478,000 square meters.
DPD rented new warehouse facilities in Arad, Bucharest and Brașov, with a total area of 5,500 square meters. JLL represented DPD in this process.
In the first nine months of the year, the demand for industrial and logistics spaces was almost 380.000 square meters, of which 46.2% (175.300 sqm) were intermediate transactions of JLL.
The courier company DPD Romania is part of DPD group, European leader in routier deliveries, and has been active on the local market since 2008, after taking over Pegasus Courier.
DPD has over 1.800 employees (including franchises) and over 15 million packages delivered annually.
JLL has advised SLS Cargo, a transport and logistics company, in a lease transaction of 15,500 sqm of warehouse space in P3 Bucharest A1.
The logistics services company SLS Cargo started operations in 2014 by opening its first operational office in Bucharest.
In 2015, the company’s activity develops through the opening of two new locations in Rădăuți and Constanța, followed in 2016 by the inauguration of the first SLS Cargo warehouse in Bucharest.
In 2018, the company opened its first offices in Bulgaria and Italy. Last year, SLS Cargo had 25.000 sqm of storage space in 4 locations in Mogoșoaia, Bâcu, Buftea and Cluj.
In 2020, FAN Courier, the leading courier service in Romania, took over the majority stake of SLS Cargo.
Total demand for industrial and logistics spaces in Romania during H1 2020 reached almost 269.000 sqm, slightly above the 260.000 sqm recorded in H1 2019.
Retailers were the most active tenants, followed by logistics companies.
The impact of the pandemic on the Romanian residential market will be different for each category of buyers, correlated with the sale price of the properties, the most affected being the segment that addresses buyers interested in properties with prices below 1,300 euro / sqm.
This category represents the largest part of the offer of new homes in Bucharest, respectively 64% of the total.
Under these conditions, government measures such as the Noua Casa program or the reduced VAT rate will continue to support market dynamics in these times of uncertainty.
The middle-upper segment which represents approximately 30% of the total number of units in the market and have selling prices between euro 1,300 euro/sqm and 2.000 euro /mp will be moderately affected as the buyers from this category presumably have more stable incomes and are more resilient to market downturns.
Nevertheless, the small investors looking for buy-to-rent opportunities suitable for short term accommodation will step-back from this market on the middle term.
Moreover, the presence of the opportunistic buyers will increase as they will be looking more actively for distressed acquisitions.
The high-end segment which represents approximately 6% of the total number of units in the market and have selling prices above 2,000 euro /mp will be the least affected, as it proved to be the most resilient segment in distressed periods over the time.
JLL don’t foresee a change in the potential buyers’ appetite for luxury residential properties, the demand is expected to remain stable.
The level of new units transactions in H1 2020 was situated somewhere at 8,000 units for Bucharest and 3,000 units for Ilfov, assuming that 60% of the Bucharest transactions officially registered by the National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration were with new units, while for Ilfov new sales represent 90% of total transactions.
This represents a 7% decrease when compared to H1 2019.
About 4,000 new homes were delivered in Bucharest and Ilfov in the first 5 months of this year
Overall, the new supply in 2020 will be less than 10% smaller than the 2019 level, reaching approximately 12,900 units with potential delays in construction completions.
However, the number of newly supplied apartments could fell by up to 50% in 2021 reaching approximately 6,500 units and might continue the downward trend in the next 2 years.
Therefore, the effects of the current crisis will be clearer on the longer term, when we will be able to evaluate its impact on the projects currently in the planning phase.
In the mid-term, JLL expects developers to be more cautious and opt for the breakdown of the projects into a larger number of phases in order to limit the exposure to market fluctuations and to keep the flexibility of adjusting their product to potential changes in demand.
IT&C and computer companies were the most active on the office space rental market in Bucharest, generating over 40% of demand in the first half of this year, followed by the banking and financial sector, with 25% of the area contracted and by medical and pharmaceutical companies, with about 9% of total take-up.
In the first half of the year, the office space rented in Bucharest totalled approximately 100,000 square meters, of which IT&C and computer companies contracted about 40,000 square meters, banking and finance – 28,000 square meters, and pharma companies rented over 8,500 square meters.
Thus, after almost 50% reduction in Q1 2020 compared to Q4 2019, the decline in office demand in Bucharest continued during Q2, albeit at much lower rate of 19% when compared to the previous quarter.
Total gross transaction volume reached approx. 44,500 m² in Q2 and almost 100,000 m² in H1 2020.
Compared to the first half of last year, demand fell by half due to the COVID-19 crisis. The average transaction size in Q2 2020 was approx. 1,400 m².
Net take up accounted for 16,000 m², or 36% of gross take up during the period. Compared with net take up in Q1 2019, it stood at little over 33%.
JLL was the market leader in Bucharest, with over 36% market share in the first half of the year in terms of transactions intermediated.
In terms of vacancy rate, Q2 experienced a slight increase, from 8.7% in Q1, to approximately 9.3%.
Vacancy rate in the different sub-markets in Bucharest
Sub-market
Stock (m²)
Average rent (Euro/m²/mth)
Vacancy %
1. CBD
320,400
16 – 18.5
4.7
2. Center
342,000
15 – 17
6.5
3. Dimitrie Pompeiu
440,700
12 – 14
8.8
4. Floreasca – BV
520,200
15 – 16
4.8
5. Center – West
439,700
14 – 16
13.3
6. East
51,100
12 – 14
18.1
7. South
41,800
10 – 12
0
8. West
157,900
10 – 13
0
9. North – West (Expozitiei)
222,800
15 – 17
6.5
10. Baneasa – Otopeni
159,800
15 – 17
8.2
11. Pipera North
210,500
11 – 13
35.9
TOTAL
2,906,900
9.3
Source: Bucharest City Report Q2 2020
About 214,000 square meters of offices will be delivered in 2020 in Bucharest, so that the modern stock will exceed 3 million square meters
After strong deliveries of 78,200 m² during Q1 2020, the pace slowed down in Q2 and the office buildings completed during the period added 27,900 m² to the modern office stock in Bucharest.
The projects delivered in Q2 include The Bridge phase 3 in the Center-West sub-market with approx. 21,200 m² GLA, and the Zone 313 in the Floreasca-Barbu Vacarescu sub-market, adding 6,700 m² GLA.
Deliveries in Q2 2020 represent approximately 33% of the volume recorded in Q2 2019, when 85,500 m² were added to the market.
Several important deliveries are waited for the second half of 2020, totaling 108,000 m². Thus this year the modern stock would increase by 214,000 m², exceeding the milestone of 3 million m² in Bucharest.
Among these the largest are Globalworth Square with 25,700 m², and One Tower, adding 23,600 m², both situated in the Floreasca – Barbu Vacarescu sub-market, as well as the second and third buildings in Campus 6, adding another 36,900 m² to the Center – West sub-market.
The total transaction volume in H1 in Romania was still 21% higher than the one registered in the same period in 2019, despite the COVID-19, the market being driven by the office projects in Bucharest.
Thus, Bucharest accounted for close to 90% of the total transaction volume in H1 2020, estimated at 410 million euro.
As it was the case in the last 5 years, market volumes in H1 2020 were dominated by office transactions. They represented 85% of the total, while industrial accounted for over 8%.
Covid-19 impact
The Covid-19 outbreak had a strong impact on the investment real estate market in Romania. Many of the on-going deals were put on hold during the lockdown period which lasted from 15th of March until 15th of May.
Towards the end of H1 however activity started to come back with several major transactions in progress once again. A handful of office sales were completed in Bucharest in Q2 2020 as the discussions were very advanced before the pandemic.
The majority of the local owners have had to focus on asset management and implementing the new rules for adjusting the buildings to the new reality.
Compared to the same period last year, the number of transactions remained stable, with the average deal size increasing to €27 million, mainly due the signing of several very large deals which includes Pan-CEE portfolios and sizeable assets.
Transactions in H1 2020
The largest transaction registered in the first half of 2020 was the sale of approximately 61.49% of the GTC portfolio.
Other notable office transactions in Romania were the acquisition by local group Dedeman of the third phase of The Bridge -a 21,100 m² building part of a 80,000 m² office park in the Center-West of Bucharest, the acquisition of Global City Business Park, a 50,000 m² park in the Pipera North area of Bucharest by Arion Green Investment and the acquisition of 50% of Renault Business Connect in the West of Bucharest by Globalworth.
The only retail transaction concluded in H1 2020 was the acquisition of Oradea Plaza, a mixed-use project, by Lotus Centre, a local group based in Oradea.
The largest industrial transaction was the acquisition of Equest Logistic Park located on the A1 Highway, at Km. 13, the most important logistic sub-market in Bucharest. Through this acquisition, CTP consolidated its position as the largest owner of industrial/logistic space in Romania and one of the two dominant players in that particular sub-market.
One hotel was transacted in H1 2020, Golden Tulip on Calea Victoriei, which marked the entrance on the local market of Fattal Group.
Local capital is starting to play an increasing role in the Romanian investment market
Romanian buyers accounted for 28% of the transaction volume in 2019 and 35% in H1 2020. The most active players were Dedeman, One United, Lotus Centers or Element Industrial.
Prime office yields are at 7.00%, prime retail yields at 7.00%, while prime industrial yields are at 8.00%. Yields for retail and industrial are at the same level as 12 months ago, while office yields have compressed by 25 bps over the year.
CEE Prime Yields (%) – Q2 2020
Country/sector
Office
Retail (shopping centers)
Industrial
Czech Republic
4.25
5.15
5.50
Poland
4.50
5.15
6.25
Hungary
5.25
6.00
7.00
Slovakia
5.75
5.75
5.85
Romania
7.00
7.00
8.00
Over 6.4 billion euro invested in properties in CEE market
During the first six months of 2020 the CEE investment market saw a number of transactions for a total of over €6.4 billion, according to JLL CEE Investment Market Report, H1 2020.
With over 46% of that amount, Poland persisted its dominance among CEE countries.
Despite the outbreak of COVID-19, the investors activity remained at extremely high level in H1 2020, and the market experienced continuation of trends that have already been observed for some time.
In H1 2020, Czech Republic recorded the largest deal in its history with the Residomo transaction of €1.3 billion. Nevertheless, the total number of transactions and consequently the total investment volume were significantly affected by the global pandemic.
The uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 did not refrain strong investment activity in Hungary, where a 6% increase of the transaction volume, compared to the same period of 2019, was recorded.
The remainder of 2020 should be busy for market players acting on the CEE investment market, especially considering the growing interest in the industrial sector which seems to be the least affected by the global pandemic.
The latest JLL research „The future of global office demand” identifies four key factors that will play a major role in shaping future office spaces.
Demand for office space is intrinsically linked to the economy; generally in a downturn, office demand drops off as employment levels fall and corporates move into cash preservation mode.
The global pandemic has undoubtedly pushed us into a global recession and in the short term this will have a direct impact on office demand. However, in light of the success of wholescale working from home, the question is now being asked – over the longer term, will this be the catalyst for the end of the office?
Before examining these factors, however, it is worth taking a step back to look at the function and purpose of the office for both the employer and the employee.
From a corporate occupier perspective offices provide a physical space to bring people together to coordinate activity, output and performance and to boost creativity.
Along with this, they showcase a company’s brand and culture and play a key feature in attracting and retaining the best talent. The function of the office will continue to evolve, accelerating trends which emphasize the importance of collaboration and innovation to employee productivity.
From an employee perspective the office provides a place for face-to-face interactions that technology struggles to replicate, such as social interaction, face-to-face collaboration, mentoring and managing. Even after the recent success of working from home, employees still state they would like to be in the office for the majority of the week.
Factors shaping the future of demand
Four key factors will have a major role in shaping the future of office demand in both the short and longer term:
Remote working
There are clear employee benefits to working from home, not least among them is ‘no commute’ and flexible hours. However, for many people their home living arrangements make working from home a below optimal choice, with its limited space, lack of privacy and/or more distractions. Additionally, employees miss the social interaction that office life brings.
Maintaining productivity away from the office over the longer term is also yet to be verified and is likely to be boosted by regular office interaction. Flexibility will be key to employee satisfaction and the balance of office and remote working anywhere will be based around the individual.
Office design
There is little doubt that COVID-19 is going to accelerate some changes in office design. The most evident is occupational density. The upward trend has gone sharply into reverse as social distancing is adhered to.
However, once a vaccine or effective treatment is available, there is likely to be a movement back toward the densities recorded pre COVID-19, but not all the way, as health and well-being will remain top of mind for occupiers. A greater focus on spaces which emphasize face-to-face interaction is likely as office space is redesigned or repurposed away from individual full-day occupancy desks.
Technology
Technology on its own is unlikely to have a significant impact on overall leasing demand. Over the short term, the adoption of new technologies will both facilitate remote working and also ensure workers’ well-being and efficiency on their return to office buildings.
Over the longer term, occupier demand is expected to gravitate toward technology heavy smart office buildings, reflecting their ability to support companies’ environmental, sustainability, health and wellness initiatives. Therefore, reduced demand for lower-quality assets over the longer term seems likely.
Commuting patterns
The lack of commuting is the most quoted benefit of working from home and it is one of the areas that is causing the most concern on re-entry to the office – particularly in those cities which are highly dependent on public transport. A slower re-entry is likely in many of those cities. Some cities are pushing the benefits of cycling or walking.
Over the longer term, face-to-face interaction (both internal and external) is still expected to gravitate toward centrally-located and highly-amenitized urban centers. These factors will underpin demand and the value of urban, transit-served markets over the long term.
The final piece of the puzzle is where office demand will be focused – the spatial patterns of office demand. The inherent attractions of cities in terms of economic opportunities, social connections and quality-of-life offer are likely to prevail despite short-term concerns regarding social distancing.
The forces that were already transforming our cities prior to COVID-19 will continue to drive change and boost office demand – digitization and automation, the Responsible City and globalization.
JLL has advised Rosti in the lease of 11,300 sqm industrial spaces in Paulesti, near Ploiesti, developed and rented out by the Belgian logistics real estate expert WDP.
The construction of the new production facility, announced by Rosti at the end of last year, has already started and the delivery date is set for 2021.
Global plastic injection moulding company Rosti is expanding and building a first-stage, custom-built 10,000 sqm factory dedicated to plastic injection moulding and contract manufacturing.
Production companies were the most active tenants on the Romanian industrial market in Q1 2020
The industrial department of JLL Romania has advised transactions of almost 150,000 sqm logistic and industrial spaces this year all over Romania.
At the end of Q1, the modern industrial stock in Romania reached 4.66 million m². After approx. 650,000 m² of modern industrial and logistics warehouses were delivered nationwide in 2019, 2020 looks very promising.
So far, the COVID-19 pandemic has not changed much the developers’ plans. At least 600,000 m² of new industrial warehouses are expected to be added to the market by the end of the year.
The real estate investments volume will exceed 1.1 billion euros this year, transactions over 700 million euros being already signed or in due diligence process.
This demonstrates the
increased interest of investors for the local real estate market, even though
last year the volume of transactions was only 683 million euros, below initial
estimates. The volume of transactions recorded last year was influenced by the
long process of analysis of the projects, the buyers still being very cautious
to the investments they make in Romania.
The increased appetite
of investors is also reflected in the evolution of yields over the last 12
months, which compressed by 25 basis points for office and industrial assets,
up to 7% and 8%, respectively. The trend will continue this year and is in line
with what is happening in the region.
“The spread
between yield in Romania and Poland or the Czech Republic reach up to 275 basis
points for comparable properties, which means that prices on the local market
are significantly lower compared to the region, making investments in Romania
more attractive,” explained Andrei Văcaru.
Offices in Bucharest, the most liquid assets in 2020
Given the ongoing
transactions, in 2020 we expect a strong recovery of Bucharest, which could attract
over 80% of the total volume of investments, compared to 48% last year.
Secondary cities, which have become more attractive to investors in 2019, will
drop in weight as there are fewer projects available for sale.
By 2020, office
buildings will represent the most liquid real estate asset class. Moreover, we
expect an increase in the share of total transactions to 80%, from 60% last
year.
Noteworthy, the evolution of the hotel sector, which is becoming more active and where we expect in 2020 new transactions in the context where in the last 3 years no less than 11 sales of hotels were closed, both in Bucharest and in secondary cities.
JLL was involved in transactions of over 325 million euros.
The real estate
consultancy company JLL was involved in 2019 in transactions of over 325
million euros.
The most important
projects in which JLL provided consultancy services in 2019, representing the
sellers, are The Office (the largest sale of an office project outside
Bucharest), Promenada Târgu Mureș and the sale of an emblematic building in
Bucharest, the Oscar Mausgch palace (BCR ) from the University Square.
“The performance of JLL’s Capital Markets team is important as it has successfully completed some of the most complex transactions on the market. The confidence given by the investors to the JLL team is the result of the work of many years, in which we managed to obtain real added value in the transactions in which we were involved,” said Andrei Văcaru, Head of Capital Markets JLL Romania.
New sources of capital on the market
The analysis of the
origin of the capital allocated for property acquisitions in Romania shows a
continuation of the diversification of the investors. Last year, local assets
attracted South African, Romanian, American, Hungarian and Middle Eastern
capital, and this year, we expect Western Europe and Israel to be the main
sources.
Morgan Stanley,
Indotek, CFH and White Star are among the new investors who made acquisitions
in Romania in 2019.
Record volume of real
estate transactions in Central and Eastern Europe
And at the regional level,
the year 2020 is expected to be a reference, after the absolute record
registered in 2019, of almost 14 billion euros.
With over 55% of the
total traded and due to the growth of the investor’s activity in Europe, Poland
maintained its dominant position in 2019. In the second position in the region
the Czech Republic stood, with 22% of the total.
Note the differences
between the sources of capital in the countries of the region. While Poland has
very few local investors, and those in Europe own about 50%, in Hungary the
local capital generated 80% of the transactions, and in the Czech Republic 40%.
Expoziției Area attracted almost 15% of the total demand for office spaces registered last year in Bucharest, thus entering the top 5 areas preferred by companies to locate their offices, at a very short distance from Center-West, the most dynamic area in the last 3-4 years.
The companies rented
last year in Bucharest almost 390,000 square meters of office space, the
highest level in the last 9 years. Compared to 2018, the total demand in
Bucharest increased by 16%.
It should also be
mentioned that the net demand – new contracts and extensions of the existing
areas, increased more than twice, compared to 2018, to 212,000 square meters
and represented more than half of the total rented volume.
The largest office
areas in Bucharest were rented in CBD (17.4% of total demand), in Center
(15.1%), Center – West (14.9%), Expozitie North (14.6%) and Floreasca – Barbu
Văcărescu (11.4%).
JLL remained the leader
of the national office market in 2019, with a market share of over 20.4% of the
total transactions carried out through the real estate consultants.
Sub-market
Gross take-up în 2019 (sqm)
% of the total
CBD
67,615
17.4
Center
58,634
15.1
Center–West
58,031
14.9
North Expozitiei
56,840
14.6
Floreasca – Barbu
Vacarescu
44,406
11.4
Center – South
27,540
7.1
Dimitrie Pompeiu
25,880
6.7
West
24,488
6.3
Pipera Nord
17,619
4.5
Baneasa – Otopeni
2,700
0.7
East
2,509
0.6
Center – North
2,245
0.6
Total
388,507
100
Vacancy rate reached 8%
The vacancy rate in the
modern office buildings in Bucharest at the end of 2019 reached about 8%,
slightly lower than the previous quarter (8.64%), amid the increase in demand
in the fourth quarter (107,000 square meters, of which over 80% net demand),
and the delivery of a single new building.
In the sub-markets,
still the highest unemployment rate in 2019 was in Pipera – North, respectively
40%, followed by the East, with 16% and Baneasa – Otopeni, with just over 14%.
At the opposite end,
the lowest vacancy rate in 2019 was recorded in the Center (1.1%), West (2.1%) and
Floreasca – Barbu Văcărescu (2.5%).
10 office projects were completed in 2019
In 2019, 10 office projects totalling almost 280,000 square meters were completed in Bucharest, double compared to 2018 (141,000 square meters).
Most deliveries took place in Center-West (almost 100,000 square meters, respectively 35% of the total area delivered), followed by Floreasca – Barbu Vacarescu over 53,000 square meters, respectively about 19% of deliveries) and West (47,000 square meters), 17% of deliveries).
Project
Sub-market
Developer
Area (sqm)
Renault Bucharest Connected
West
Globalworth&Elgan Group
47,000
The Mark
CBD
S Immo
25,500
The Bridge phase 2
Center – West
Forte Partners
21,271
Business Garden Bucharest
Center – West
Vastint
41,000
Oregon Park cladirea C
Floreasca-Barbu Vacarescu
Portland Trust
25,000
Timpuri Noi Square 3
Center
Vastint
20,000
Expo Business Park
Expozitiei
Portland Trust
38,000
The Light
Center – West
River Development
21,600
Sema Office Berlin
Center – West
River Development
14,900
Equilibrium phase 1
Floreasca -Barbu Vacarescu
Skanska
20,600
Total
275.000
18% increase in demand
At the national level,
about 470,000 square meters of office space were rented, of which the net
demand, respectively new contracts and extensions of the already existing
areas, represented the largest share. Total demand increased in 2019 by 18%
compared to 2018 when a level of 400,000 square meters was recorded.
The
average value of transactions with office spaces nationwide was 1,560 square
meters.
Net
demand in 2019 was 280,000 square meters, growing almost 3 times compared to
2018.
At
national level, Bucharest attracted almost 83% of the total demand for office
space, followed by Cluj-Napoca (6.5%), Timisoara (4.4%) and Iași (3.2%).
By activity areas, by
far the largest share of the demand for office space at the national level came
from the IT&C sector, covering almost 40% of the rented space in 2019. The
second place was the computer & high-tech sector, with 15.6%, followed by
banking insurance & financing, with 8.4% and retail & consumer goods,
with 7.4%.
In comparison, in 2018
the highest weights in the total demand for office spaces were held by the
IT&C sector, with over 35%, the professional services sector, with about
10%, banking, insurance & financing, with over 7% and computers & high-tech,
with almost 6%.
