The office leases were signed in Bucharest, in Cluj-Napoca and Iasi.
The biggest contracts were closed for spaces in Iasi (13,000 sqm), while transactions totaled 7,500 sqm in Bucharest and 1,700 sqm in Cluj-Napoca.
By sector, professional services, BPO, IT and constructions companies were the main tenants in the first quarter, JLL said.
”We are very happy with the high activity of the tenants in Q1 2016 searching for modern offices in the major cities in Romania and not only in Bucharest. JLL advised office lease agreements totalling 25,000 sqm, almost 3 times larger when compared with Q1 2015. We are currently in discussion to bring new companies on the Romanian market, which will boost the total net demand for office spaces. This year’s newcomers, will mainly be BPOs, SSCs and IT tenants,” said Maria Florea, Head of Agency Office JLL Romania.
This year, most of BPO/SSC/IT companies interested in opening offices in Romania are not looking only for a traditional call center that will mainly offer support, but rather are shifting towards more value added services such as research & development. Thus, they are seeking better spaces, in buildings offering more than just the office space and better talents.
The most searched areas in Bucharest are Floreasca – Barbu Vacarescu, Central-West, as well as Unirii area.
According to Florea, the financial and IT sectors will continue to consolidate this year, as the trend began years ago, generating large office lease transactions (over 20,000 sqm), such as Genpact or Oracle.
”There are a number of companies that are currently working to consolidate their activities in Bucharest in a single office. They are looking for modern space assessing not only the financial aspects. They are seeking to provide their employees working spaces with good access to public transportation (mainly metro) and numerous amenities. Considering the performance of the office lease market at the beginning of this year and the increasing interest in Bucharest and in the major cities, we can expect for a new good year in terms of demand,” Florea said.
Headline rents remained stable over the last 12 months, but landlords are willing to provide more incentive packages to the tenants, JLL said.