Office real estate markets very dynamic

If one looks at the office spaces in the big cities of eastern and southeastern Europe the stock numbers vary greatly. When seen in relation to the population, new points of view arise.

Large cities like Moscow or Istanbul show very low numbers whereas cities in western Europe such as Vienna or Berlin have densities over 5sqm per inhabitant.

This also shows the special status of Vienna – with over 6sqm per inhabitant at the top of this list. The Austrian capital has always been a toehold for the east – many companies direct their eastern European business from Vienna. From that arises a comparatively high demand for office space.

But also cities like Kiev, with a density of just 0,4 at the end of the line, do have potential for growth. This can also be seen from other cities like Praha (2sqm/inh.) or Bratislava (2,8sqm/inh.). In the long term a development towards 3sqm/inh of office space density is likely. Among this group capable of development are Zagreb, Budapest, Warsaw and Ljubljana who show density figures between 1 and 2 sqm per inhabitant.

The chart shows the density of the cities as well as the vacancy rates.

In general the office real estate market is very dynamic at the moment – CEE/SEE cities are affected by reluctance regarding take-up and many large projects have been delayed until further notice. Compared to that the market in Vienna has remained relatively stable with hardly any changes in rents.