Bucharest remains the most active market, with projects of nearly 340,000 sqm scheduled for delivery until the end of 2021, being followed by Timisoara (80,000 sqm), Cluj-Napoca (36,000 sqm) and Brasov (25,000 sqm).
The most active real estate developers, in terms of surface areas to be delivered in the coming period, are One United (94,000 sqm), Iulius Group (60,000 sqm), Portland Trust (45,000 sqm) and Forte Partners (41,000 sqm).
The sanitary crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the usability of office spaces, as companies adopted various methods to protect their employees, but had a smaller impact on the office space occupancy rate, considering that most tenants are still analysing the best solution for their business activities on the medium and long term, the analysis shows.
Thus, the vacancy rate ranges from 10.3% in Bucharest, namely, from 4.7% in Floreasca – Barbu Vacarescu area and 7.4% in Central Business District –Victoriei Square –Charles de Gaulle Square (CBD), to 5.6% in Cluj-Napoca and 5.7% in Brasov.
Benchmark rental rates remained stable at EUR19/sqm in Bucharest and EUR15/sqm in Cluj-Napoca or Timisoara, after a long period in which the competition between developers kept prices on the local market at a competitive level compared to similar cities in Central and Eastern Europe.
At the end of the first half of 2020, the modern office space stock in Bucharest stood at nearly 2.9 million sqm of lettable area, without considering the properties directly occupied by owners, while the stock in regional cities was nearing the threshold of 1 million sqm, with Cluj-Napoca (347,000 sqm), Timisoara (245,000 sqm) and Iasi (226,000 sqm) being the biggest markets.