CBRE: Bucharest will witness a fivefold increase in office space, IT - best lessee

A record area of office space will be delivered in 2016 in Bucharest, according to a CBRE report. In 2016 408,000 sqm of new offices will be delivered, over five times more than the total of 72,500 square meters in 2015 and 10% more than the volume of 2009, which represented a historical record of the local real estate market.

The most active real estate industry continues to be the IT&C; companies in this sector in the last three years rented 330,000 square meters of office space, and their 2015 lease represents 51% of total demand.

CBRE Romania owns a portfolio of tenants representing 44% of the local real estate market, according to a company release.

"It is the second consecutive year that reinforces the trend noted since 2014 of a growth in demand for new spaces and expansion of the rented space at the expense of simple renegotiations that characterized the period of hesitation and mistrust of the market in previous years," says Mihai Paduroiu, Head of Office Agency, CBRE Romania.

"It is an excellent signal on increasing market confidence in Romania, in line with the general economic growth communicated by the National Statistics Institute. The figures speak: business that needed new office space have practically doubled the demand over the last two years, from 28,700 sqm to 52,800 sqm in 2013 to 2015," says Paduroiu.

The total volume of office space leased last year was of 240,000 square meters, 20% less than in 2014. The 2015 figures represent "the result of the market context of 2009-2010 crisis when fewer deals were concluded, the vast majority of which were clinched over five years-periods. Last year fewer contracts have expired, meaning fewer tenants were in a position to seek accommodation and rentals are expected to resume growth in 2016, due to substantial number of warrants that are expected to be completed in the next 9-12 months," states the CBRE report.

Next year other 315,000 sqm will be delivered other, so that at the end of 2017, the volume of spaces delivered during 2016- 2017 will represent one third of all existing offices in Bucharest.
For 2017, more than half of the total number of spaces, or 53% of the total amount already announced, will be delivered in the western Bucharest.

"Reconfiguration of the real estate market trends clearly show a shift in demand from the North and Pipera towards the west, which will lead to a more dynamic market in Bucharest," says Paduroiu.

US-based IT giant IBM announced it would open a new business center in Cluj-Napoca this July, the fourth center operated by the It company in Romania, after Bucharest, Brasov and Timisoara.

SAP, leading company in digital transformation, ranked 1st among Europe's most valuable brands, according to the 2017's edition of BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, with a brand value of 45.194 billio

Finland-based company Nokia said it will be expanding its campus in western city of Timisoara with the biggest research and development (R&D) center in the Romanian telecom industry and the total investment exc

Romanian investment firm Fribourg Capital said it has launched Fribourg Digital, a 20 million Euro investment fund which targets startups in the IT sector, according to a company statement quoted by seenews.

Avangate, the global eCommerce and subscription billing platform for software, SaaS, and digital solutions, with Romanian roots, which recently acquired the 2Checkout global payment processor, will hire 45 IT s

The global technology innovation company with headquarters in Romania, US and Australia was ranked 612 on the list of 1000 European fast-growing firms, with a revenue growth of 165 per cent between 2012 and 201

More than 265,000 sqm of office area is scheduled for delivery in 2017, broadly in line with the level received in 2016, according to the recently launched market report of Colliers.

Societe Generale European Business Services, the shared service center for Societe Generale Group, has reached 1,000 employees due to an accelerated growth over the last three years. Societe Generale European B

This year had the best start of the last decade, from the perspective of recruitment volumes, being recorded in Q1 a growth of over 40 per cent of the recruitment against the same period of last year, and t

According to a joint PwC Romania and Microsoft Romania survey launched recently, "Security in the Digital World", investments in cybersecurity are mostly driven by regulatory requirements instead of the organiz

How well do we understand the multitude of tools that are one touch away from us and how do we make the best use of it in terms of work efficiency, effectiveness and safety? Another of the biggest questions in

Romania delivers services in 25 languages with more than 100,000 specialists employed in the outsourcing industry and business services, and based on an estimated growth of 15-20 per cent, it is estimated to re

For companies in the travel and hospitality industry, having an omnichannel strategy is becoming critical to compete in a complex market of both  Read Full article »

Shibu Nambiar has over 18 years of experience in the services industry, covering roles in operations, project management, service delivery, product development, domain management and training.

The business shared services industry in Romania is living a fantastic youth, but may be heading towards a maturity that may come sooner than expected, thanks to disruptive emerging technologies and the urgent