Office Space Market Will Pick up in 2010, Expert Says
Saturday, Jan 09, 2010
The market for office space will pick up in 2010, the CEO of the European Trade Center office center Tanya-Kosseva-Boshova forecast. As a whole, Bulgarian companies will contribute to about 5 per cent of the demand on the office space market next year, she said.
The energy efficiency of the buildings will be among the requirements of tenants in 2010.
Kosseva-Boshova does not expect a further decline of office space prices because it has already been consumed in 2009.
According to the expert, the market will pick up thanks to the desire of international companies to streamline their costs and of Bulgarian companies - to move into nice offices, as well as to the emergence of the new quality office projects which will be completed over the coming months.
According to Tanya Kosseva-Boshova, the initial shock from the onset of the crisis in local branches of the international companies has passed. Instead of constantly cutting capital expenses as they did in the beginning of the crisis, foreign companies have now opted for streamlining them. This has a direct impact on their attitude to their office space - they are ready to change their office if they receive an offer for a higher quality property at a better price, the expert commented.
Kosseva-Boshova added that local companies are also becoming more active in respect to the opportunity to move into new offices. This is valid both for companies operating in sectors less touched by the crisis - for example IT or outsourcing of business processes - and for such that are aware of the advantages of modern and quality office space.
A large portion of the projects, which will come out on the market in the beginning of next year, are concentrated on Tsarigradsko Chaussee Boulevard, along which Sofia's new business location is emerging. These projects have a high quality and energy efficiency class, a good location and are offered at lucrative prices.
Thanks to this zone Sofia will increasingly come to resemble the great European capitals like Vienna, Berlin and London, where large and quality office projects are located outside the centre and near the key boulevards. This process will develop at an ever higher rate with the building of the new undergound stations.
