Just 17,000 sqm is set to be added to the Brno office market this year. This is expected to push vacancy from 12.1 to 10 percent and may push rent prices up. Development has slowed due to a lack of planning and does not meet occupier demand. Some developers have shifted their focus to older facilities that need to be modernized.
Last year, businesses leased more than 60,000 sqm, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Development is not expected to pick up until 2018, when, based on current estimates, some 56,000 sqm should be completed. “Companies will likely lease more than 50,000 sqm of office space this year,” says Lukáš Netolický, a specialist for the Brno office market at Cushman & Wakefield. Prime rents in Brno were at about €13 per sqm at the end of 2016, making Brno, as well as Poland’s Łódź, among the cheapest office markets in the CEE region.
