In Bucharest, in the First Nine Months of 2021, Were Rented Small Offices of up to 1,000 square meters

By the end of September 2021, were rented more office spaces with areas up to 1,000 square meters than in the same period in 2020 and even in 2019 or 2018, before the pandemic, according to an analysis by the real estate company ESOP, based on data centralized by major brokers in the office market. In total, in the first three-quarters of 2021 107 small office spaces were rented, totaling 46,405 sqm, while in 2020 only 44 small spaces were rented, with a total of 17,739 sqm, and in 2019 were rented 103 spaces, with a total of 44,105 sqm. On the other hand, however, there are fewer transactions with spaces of over 1,000 square meters and their total volume is smaller than in previous years.

SMEs are the tenants that have set the office market in motion this year.

“In the first nine months of 2021, we noticed a greater dynamism in the market segment of relocations of office spaces from small and medium-sized companies and we estimate that large companies could become more active in the relocation market as early in 2022, on the condition that the epidemiological situation will improve ”, declares Alexandru Petrescu, Managing Partner at ESOP Consulting.

The number of transactions with spaces larger than 1,000 sqm is higher than in 2020 but remains smaller than in 2019.

The total number of office transactions doubled compared to 2020, the year most hit by the pandemic.

In total, in the first nine months of 2021, 135 transactions were made with office space, while in 2020, in the same period, only 67 transactions were concluded in Bucharest. Compared to 2019 and 2018, the years before the pandemic, this year we still have a smaller number of transactions and a smaller volume of space. In 2019, before the outbreak of the COViD 19 pandemic, in the first nine months, 149 transactions had been made, with a total of almost 200,000 sqm.

In the first three quarters of 2021, more new offices were rented than in the whole of 2020. In total, by the end of October 2021, 136,824 sqm of office space were rented, while last year, until the end of December, offices with a total area of ​​118,192 sqm were traded.

“The current health situation, with a rapid increase in the number of COVID cases in Romania, will be able to delay the pace of trading in the fourth quarter. In recent months, I have noticed in the market a gradual return of the flow of new companies from other European markets, but it is difficult to say how they will react to the new epidemiological conditions in our country. What is certain is that the health safety measures and facilities offered by the owners of office buildings will be maintained on the short term and will become increasingly important on the medium and long term”, says Alexandru Petrescu, Managing Partner at ESOP Consulting.