Bucharest’s pre-leased office space reached 79,000 sqm in the first half of the year

The volume of pre-leased office space in Bucharest in the first half of 2018 amounted to approximately 79,000 sqm, 2.6 times higher than the 30,000 sqm average recorded in 2017.

In total, in the first half of 2018, rental, pre-lease and expansion transactions amounted to a total of 141,000 sqm in the first semester of this year, up 24 percent from the half-yearly average of the previous year. In addition to pre-leases, a slight increase was recorded in the expansion segment, with 18.6 percent, while rents in existing buildings decreased by 34 percent, to 47,200 sqm in S1 2018, compared to the half-yearly average 71,500 sqm of 2017.

“The volume of pre-leases in the first half of this year is on the rise due to annual increases in office space deliveries of more than 75 percent in both 2018 and 2019. We expect a further dynamic on the pre-leases,” said Alexandru Petrescu, managing partner at Esop Consulting and CORFAC International.

New office buildings are more attractive

Class A office buildings, completed in S1 2018 or still under construction, attracted more than 60 percent of all Bucharest office transactions in S1, excluding renegotiations. Upper class office projects such as AFI Tech Park, Ana Tower, Campus 6, Day Tower, Expo Business Park, Globalworth Campus, The Bridge, Orhideea Towers, Unirii View, have attracted the attention of large space tenants, as are Enel, PWC, London Stock Exchange, Superhippo, Schlumberger, Dell, Mercury 360, Knauf, World Class, UPC.

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Some of these companies, such as the London Stock Exchange, will open its first offices in Romania in the pre-leased premises in the first semester and will be delivered in the coming period.

The Bridge and Day Tower projects attracted tenants who pre-leased the largest areas in the first half of 2018, with a total area of ​​20,500 sqm and 11,500 sqm. The other projects recorded pre-rentals varying between 5,000-9,000 sqm.

Most of the companies that have rented office space in the first semester of this year have chosen the Centru-Vest area, in the new business field Orhideea – Grozavesti – Politehnica – Tudor Vladimirescu, the surface traded here being 41,000 sqm (representing 52 percent of the total of 78,600 sqm pre-leased in S1 2018).

In this area, there are also most upper class office projects that have close delivery times in 2018-2019: Campus 6, The Light, Business Garden Bucharest, The Bridge, Orhideea Towers, AFI Tech Park.

Second place in the pre-leases of the first half is the Centru-Nord area, with a weight of 26 percent, and the third place is the ultracentral area with a weight of 22 percent.