In the third quarter of the year, the office leasing volume in Bratislava increased by 40% quarter-on-quarter, but in a year-on-year comparison, the volume decreased by 12%, reports the Bratislava Research Forum.
In Q3 2022, the total office stock in Bratislava reached 1.97 million sqm. 15% of the total stock consists of Class A+ office space, 39% of Class A and 46% of Class B office space.
During the third quarter of 2022, one new office building was added to the market, namely Lake Side Park II with 14,000 sqm. In terms of the ownership structure, similarly to the previous quarter, approximately 4% of the office stock is state-owned, almost 12% are buildings owned and fully occupied by the same entity and the total stock for commercial use remains at 84% (or around 1.66 million sqm) of total modern office stock in Bratislava.
In total, Bratislava offers almost 675,350 sqm of office space with a valid green / sustainable building certificate. This is 34% of the total volume of office space in Bratislava. Currently, 39 out of 272 buildings meet the criteria. 60% of the certified stock has a BREEAM certificate, almost 5% has a combination of BREEAM / WELL certificates and 35% is LEED certified. Only the Twin City Tower has the highest BREEAM Outstanding rating, and in the case of LEED Platinum, the Digital Park buildings and Ein Park Offices are its only current holders.
Take-up
Lease transactions in the third quarter of 2022 reached a total area of 38,760 sqm, which represents a 40% increase in leasing activity compared to the previous quarter. In a year-on-year comparison, the number of leased areas decreased by almost 12%. New leases accounted for 69% of the total take-up, renegotiations for 16% and expansions for 14%, while the remaining 1% was pre-leased.
Take-up was dominated by transactions in the sector of professional services with a size of almost 8,600 sqm. The largest transaction was in the public sector with an amount of 3,550 sqm. A total of 8 transactions were recorded with an area of over 1,000 sqm. Most of the leased space this quarter was leased within the sector of professional services (22.1%), other (18.0%) and IT sector (13.7%).
Vacancy and rent
The overall vacancy rate in Bratislava slightly decreased compared to the previous quarter to 11.74 %. The lowest vacancy rate was recorded in the South Bank (6.51%), followed by the City Centre submarket (9.22%), Inner City (9.63%), CBD (13.17%), and Outer City, recording the highest vacancy rate of 15.95%. Prime rent has changed to €17/sqm/month.
