The transactions analyse of Bucharest zones shows that in the first quarter the most active zones were Central Business District (20%) and Centre-West (19%), while in the second quarter Pipera area attracted 33% of the rents, and Central Business District continued to present a growing interest, with 22% from the leased area, a company release showed.

In the second quarter of 2013 approx. 70 office rent transactions were registered in Bucharest on a total area of 65,000 sqm, with a slight growth (8.3%) compared to the area leased in the first quarter (60,000 sqm, with 51 transactions).

Comparing to the same period of last year – when approx. 110,000 sqm were leased – the leased area of the first term of 2013 has grown with 12%, reaching 125,000 sqm.

Considering the companies profile to sign leases for office spaces, in the second quarter the most active on the market was still the IT&C sector with 21 transactions representing 28% of the total absorption, compared to the first quarter of the year, which represented 30%. The following categories active on the market in the first half of the year were represented by professional services (18%) and companies operating in the production and energy field (11%)

The activity on the office market in the first two quarters of 2013 included relocations and new requests with 555 (with relocations over 60%), renegotiations/renewals (33%), area extensions (7%) and pre-leasing (5%). Therefore, the contracts signed in the analysed period included only 22% new request.

In the second quarter the office spaces offer in Bucharest has increased with only 6,000 sqm new spaces, compared to the first three months of the year, when were registered deliveries of 70,000 sqm.

Currently, in Bucharest there are 180,000 sqm A class offices in construction, with delivery terms scheduled for the second term of this year, but also for 2014-2015.

The deliveries announced for the next 6 months totalized 41,500 sqm, the most significant project being Floreasca Park (37,500 sqm) announced for the third quarter of 2013 and 75% pre-leased.

At the same time, the existing stock, estimated at approx. 1.7 million sqm, will be supplemented with approx. 30,000 sqm in the next period, representing refurbished properties and reconverted to office buildings.

By the end of the year it is expected a total absorption rate similar to the one registered last year and estimated to 200,000 sqm rented area. Considering the constant level of the rents from the end of 2012 and from the first six months of 2013, the consultants estimate the same stable trend for the next period, with slight growth only in prime buildings from Bucharest.

"This year the office market request is relatively constant too, with a slight growth. Since the beginning of the year we brokered 20 office lease transactions, exclusively A class, with an average area of 1,550 sqm/transaction and totalizing over 31,000 sqm, a similar area to the one brokered by our company in the same period of last year. ", has declared in the release Horaţiu Florescu, CEO The Advisers/Knight Frank. (source: economica.net)