Three office buildings were delivered, having a total gross leasable area of 54,000 sqm: City Offices, Auchan Tricodava and Green Court –building B.
Currently, there are 100,000 sqm of modern office space under construction with delivery date by year’s end. Approximately 50% is concentrated in one project – Bucharest One, located in central north submarket.
Leasing activity (take-ups and renegotiations) totaled 135,000 sqm in the first six months, similar with the corresponding period a year earlier.
Take-up represents 80%, with 112,000 sqm transacted, up 3.5% from the same period a year earlier, and is divided between new operations – 56%, and relocations from old stock to modern office space -44%.
Most of the take-up was recorded in central-north submarket -64%, followed by Pipera south – 27% and western zone – 7%.
Another 23,000 sqm were subject to renegotiation and renewal transactions, with 40% being concluded in Pipera zone.
The most active tenants continue to be IT companies, with 64%, followed by professionals service companies- 14% and retail, with 9%.
Comparing demand by business sector with what was registered in the same period last year, office area leased by IT&T occupiers has increased by 11% in January-June.
Bucharest’s general vacancy rate for class A & B office space reached 13.5% in the first six months. In Bucharest, there are currently 300,000 sqm vacant office spaces, with 26% located in Pipera north zone and 17% in the northern zone.
The lowest vacancy rates are in business central zone (Victoriei – Aviatorilor) – 5% and in the central northern submarket- 9%.
Prime headline rent remained stable in the first six months, at around EUR18.5/sqm/month.
In the next 18 months 345,000 sqm of office space will be completed in Bucharest. More than 70% will be delivered next year. Overall the level of new supply in 2016 is forecasted to become the highest in the last five years, DTZ said.