Approximately half a million sqm of offices, representing 15 percent of the total stock in Bucharest, are unoccupied, the largest available area being in the buildings in Pipera-Nord, Centru-Vest and Floreasca-Barbu Văcărescu, according to the data of the real estate consultancy company Cushman & Wakefield Equinox.
Also, there is a very large discrepancy between class A and class B projects in terms of the average vacancy rate. Thus, of the total unoccupied spaces, half (about 250,000 sqm) are in buildings that were built over 15 years ago, most of which need modernization investments to attract customers.
“The office market worldwide is going through a period of readjustment imposed by the hybrid work system, challenges that we also feel in Romania and we refer here to the degree of use of the rented spaces, to their resizing and to the increase in the tenants’ demands when it comes to the quality and especially the energy performance of office buildings. The return of employees to the offices will continue to be a challenge, but most companies have finalized their strategies regarding the occupation of the spaces, so we expect that in the coming period we will see more movements in the market in the sense of consolidations or relocations,” says Mădălina Cojocaru, partner Office Agency Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.
