In Q4 2021, for the second consecutive quarter, no new buildings were completed on the Budapest office market. Total demand reached 112,280 sqm in Q4 2021, representing a 38% increase quarter-on-quarter, and a 30% increase year-on-year, the Budapest Research Forum (BRF) reports.

New demand for office spaces in Bucharest soared 47% to 104,000 sqm year-on-year in 2021, while total demand volumes gained 23% to 263,000 sqm, according to real estate consultancy Colliers. 

The first phase of the Corvin Innovation Campus, with almost 17,200 sqm of office space, has reached its highest point. Developed by Futureal and located in the immediate vicinity of Corvin Promenade in Budapest, the first phase of the 30,000 sqm complex is expected to be completed by the end of 2022, while the second phase is scheduled for completion in Q4 2023.

Beverages maker Heineken Romania will relocate its HQ to a new building under development in northern Bucharest. The company will occupy 3,200 sqm, similar to the surface it has leased in the S-Park project, owned by Immofinanz, according to profit.ro. 

Romanian developer One United Properties has completed the first phase of Bucharest-based One Cotroceni Office Park, with a gross leasable area of 46,000 sqm. The company said it has leased 75% of the office and commercial spaces by the time of delivery. 

The change in the office market which we witnessed in 2021 was only the warmup for what is to come in 2022 and forward. The sharing economy and digitization are driving the disruption in the office industry and the adaption of hybrid work models from international corporations are acting as a booster. New Work’s annual Flex Office Market Report 2022, presented in Warsaw and broadcasted internationally, provides some insights.

CBRE has secured a property management mandate for CA Immo's entire Budapest office portfolio of 9 buildings, the company announced on LinkedIn.

Last year was a demanding period for the office market and a test for us, which we managed to successfully pass, says Katarzyna Zawodna-Bijoch, President and CEO at Skanska’s commercial development business unit in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE). In 2022, we will witness safe and futureproof workplaces, new technologies as well as Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) areas becoming increasingly important, with the latter being subject to continuous intensive analyses as a business trend.

Despite almost all European office employees working from home last year the empty workplaces did not lead to a reduction in the expenditure that companies had to fulfil had the workforce been in the office. The average costs per FTE fell by only 2% and amounted to €9,468. These findings have been published by Colliers, Occupier Cost Index (OCI), which comprises data from 29 countries, 3,990 buildings, 26.1 million square meters of office space and 1.96 million FTEs.

Griffes ended 2021 with a significant office leasing surge, placing the agency as the second best performing real estate player in the intermediated office leasing segment in Romania. The achievement tops Griffes’ 5 years of activity on the Romanian real estate landscape which the company celebrated at the end of the year. The team extended significantly its activities throughout 2021, growing into land sales and industrial leasing by marketing a large-scale project to be developed next to Budapest Airport in Hungary.