Between 2009 and 2010, after the onset of the economic crisis, the office space vacancy rate in Bucharest had reached 18%.
In the first quarter of 2017, the total volume of transactions involving modern office space in Bucharest exceeded 110,000 sqm, ten times higher than deliveries which stood at 11,000 sqm. Thus, the office space stock rose slightly to 2.55 million sqm.
Net demand, namely, new lease and pre-lease contracts, or extensions of existing companies, account for half of total transactions.
Vacancy rates below the market average are registered in CBD (9.1%), and in the most dynamic areas over the last years, namely, the West (4.6%) and Barbu Vacarescu – Floreasca (5.9%). In the past year, the vacancy rate also fell in the Pipera Nord area, down to 31%, but it remained above the market average.
Companies in the technology and telecom sectors, as well as in the financial and manufacturing/industrial sectors, remained the most dynamic in the first three months of 2017 too.
In 2017, the deliveries of modern office space in Bucharest are expected to exceed 150,000 sqm, and 40% of these spaces are to be delivered in the West.