Bucharest ticks among the lowest costs in Central and Eastern Europe when it comes to setting up office spaces. Although they continued to grow by 15-20 percent in the last year, the average of EUR 943 /sqm is 32 percent below the level recorded in Warsaw or Prague, and 25 percent above that of Sofia, the cheapest capital in the region , shows the data of the real estate consulting company Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.
“The biggest impact on the costs of setting up office spaces was the labor cost – given that last year in Romania we are talking about an increase in the average net salary by over 15percent – and the costs of materials and equipment necessary. An important element is also the expenses necessary for the implementation of ESG standards, a concern that is increasingly common on the part of tenants,” explains Andrei Ianculescu, head of project management Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.