The office market reaches a new record in Bucharest

By Edwig Ban
In 2019, the office market in Bucharest will reach a record compared to last years; It is estimated that 400,000 square meters will be delivered, the head of JLL Romania’s office department, Marius Şcuta, said on Thursday at a press conference.
“This year’s figures show a record market. It shows that the market is doing very well, which is in contrast to the information we have from outside the country. Information according to which a recession is approaching or is going to be a crisis. Already from a year and a half – two years. Signs from our market show exactly the opposite and we are not exactly like in 2006 – 2007. We are talking only about a boom in the construction market. Here we are talking about transactions, because we are talking about the activity of companies. In figures, in terms of deliveries we are more than double last year, but at the same time we also have a record on the part of transactions that happened in the market “, said Marius Şcuta.
He said that due to the political climate many projects were put on hold or many companies chose other countries. At the same time, most of the companies existing in Romania are expanding, and due to this aspect, even if there are massive deliveries on the market, the unemployment rate decreases instead of increasing.
He also stated that there is a stable rent for the last 6 years, at the value of 18.5 euros / sqm / month, the novelty of the fact that the benefits packages offered to tenants have been reduced in the last year.
According to the company data, the modern office stock is over 2.84 million square meters, of which more than 66% is represented by Class A buildings. Office space deliveries have reached almost 180,000 square meters. in the first half of the year, compared to 141,800 sqm in the whole of 2018.
According to the representatives of JLL Romania, even if in the first semester the deliveries were higher than in 2018, the high level of demand caused the slight reduction of the average unemployment rate in Bucharest to about 7.5%, from 8% following a year.