The office segment will attract the majority of real estate investment next year, and in Lisbon that might even reach 35% of all capital invested, the same as in cities like Madrid or Milan, forecasted Savills.
This is one of the conclusions from the latest study Impacts 2021, carried out by the consultant, which confirms the pandemic and the lockdowns boosted transformations on almost all the economy’s sectors across the world, creating new paradigms for consumption and operation, or reinforcing changes which were already under way.
The office segment should represent more than 50% of all real estate investment in the Asia-Pacific region. It will represent 60% in several Chinese cities, 55% in Seoul, 50% in Delhi, London, Shanghai, Zurich and Prague. Offices will represent around 45% of all investment in Athens, Dublin, Taipei, Auckland, Bangkok and 40% in Singapore, Oslo, Warsaw and Dubai. Offices will finally represent 35% of all real estate investment in Berlin, Madrid, Milan, Sydney, New York and Los Angeles as well as Lisbon.
The study shows that 2022 «should be marked by the real estate markets’ return, all over the world, to pre-pandemic performance levels, both in terms of rentals and in terms of investment. It is estimated that the office segment will be the main driver behind the sector’s recovery and that, globally, technological companies will be the main responsible for the strengthening of this real estate segment, namely through rental», it can be read in a release.
Paulo Silva, Head of Country at Savills Portugal, pointed out that «this study highlights the attentive and critical way Savills places itself on the real estate market, seeking to anticipate trends through a careful reading of what is going on, the reactions to changes, as well as the dialogue with the main real estate market players».
Patrícia Liz, Savills Portugal’s CEO, mentioned that «our study clearly shows that the vitality the real estate market showed during the last few years is consistent and remained at very interesting levels, capable of a recovery which will boost the trends which had already been felt, albeit tentatively, in the years preceding the pandemic. Of all the concepts we mentioned today, hot desking, remote work, conference calls, among others... only the agility of meetings via Teams, Zoom, Google meeting etc. was in a way something new, all the other work concepts had already been implemented in different forms».
Remote work does not “kill” the office
Remote work will not dictate the end of offices, according to Savills, despite the fact that this trend is here to stay. It may boost the appearance of new work models where the traditional office and the office at home «will play new roles in the emerging hybrid paradigm».
«During the next five years, it will be possible to observe the proliferation of work models which share the office and the worker’s home. This phenomenon should register a greater acceleration in cities such as New York, Paris, London, Berlin and Frankfurt», stated the consultant.
Patrícia Liz added that «what we are seeing is an very strong impulse to do now what would have taken many years to spread across all companies. The acceleration phenomenon we will witness with the new work concepts, is also related to this, with the fact that these concepts are already available to companies and the mindset of those who project them and builds them, together with the knowledge and the will of those who invest».
«The market’s liquidity will also be a driver towards that acceleration», according to Patricia Linz. «The more consistent agreement concerning the subject of sustainability in its varied shapes, was, without a doubt, one of the positive factors which, right now, although negative, boosted it, showing once again that crises also present opportunities», she finished.