A third of the leased office space is located outside Bucharest, as well as in the big cities of Iasi, Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca and Brasov. In Romania’s large cities, the office space area traded in the first three months of 2016 reached nearly 41,000 sqm, compared with 18,800 sqm in the same period in 2015, while in Bucharest, the demand doubled to nearly 100,000 sqm.
This year, Iasi competes against Bucharest, registering one of the two largest transactions in January-March 2016, namely, 13,000 sqm. JLL represented the tenant in the respective transaction.
In Bucharest, the biggest transaction reached 13,000 sqm and targeted an extension of existing contract.
A total 17,200 sqm were traded in Iasi, 16,300 sqm in Timisoara, with Brasov and Cluj-Napoca being runners-up.
Companies operating in the fields of business process outsourcing (BPO), IT&C and professional services remain the driver of demand, in 2016 as well, in Romania, accounting for over 60% of the office area traded in the first quarter of 2016. The banking and financial services sectors leased 10,000 sqm, while the companies operating in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector signed contracts for 3,000 sqm.