Sofia Office Rent Levels Stagnant in 2010
| 02 March 2010 |
An increasing number of clients are willing to enter the market and close on deals, the agency reports. Its forecast for 2010 indicates that rent levels will “undergo little or no alteration”, which they say will prompt the market into a gradual recovery.
Conversely, the Sofia Echo quotes other studies claiming that 2010 will see further decline in prices of both office space and industrial real estate.
About 70,000m2 of office space was completed in 2009, making a total of about 1.17 million square metres on the market. A further 150,000m2 of office space is under construction and is expected to be available by the end of June 2010. To date, less than a quarter of these properties have agreed tenants.
Elta Consult reports that in the last quarter of 2009, take-up of available office space increased by 50 per cent over the first nine months of the year, but remained at levels nearly 50 per cent below the corresponding period in 2008.
New office buildings due to be completed and opened for business throughout 2010 are likely to keep prices low because of over-supply, a study by real estate consultant firm MBL and global consultancy CB Richard Ellis noted in January.
Currently, Class A office space in Sofia city centre varies between €11.5 and €15.5/m2, and between €9 and €13/m2 in outlying districts.
