According to the analysis of the office market by Aguirre Newman, published this week, in the first two months of the year 31 transactions were registered, corresponding to 8 more than in the same period last year.
In this period, the greatest number of transactions were in the Western Corridor, with 30% of the transactions. The Secondary Zone, and the Parque das Nações registered just one transaction each. On the other hand, the Prime CBD and the Western Corridor registered the largest areas taken up between January and February, 10,557m² and 9,378m².
It is of note that , of the total area taken up up to February 2017, just two transactions involved new buildings, representing 25% of total take up area in this period.
Aguirre Newman also note that the average surface area taken up per transaction went up about 18%, from 864m² in February 2016 to 1,017m² last February. In the CBD at least 50% of the transactions registered an area less than 300m².
Teresa Cachada, Analyst in the Consulting Department at Aguirre Newman, comments that «the demand for offices with modern characteristics has been a constant, a demand which the market finds more and more difficult to satisfy due to the lack of construction of new office buildings. In zones like the Parque das Nações, the limited supply has had repercussions on rents, with consequent increases in recent months».
The analyst continued «the demand for larger areas has been registered by Call Centres and Shared Services firms which, in addition to the quality of the spaces, seek larger surface areas, usually over 500 m² , occasionally up to 5,000 m². The solution had to be in having several offices scattered about the city of Lisbon, a less efficient alternative than that originally wanted (just one large office space with all services centralised)».
In February, the Pharmaceutical and Health sector was responsible for 44% of the area taken up.