Romania's largest office tenants pay more than €260 million annually for modern office spaces, representing less than 1% of their combined 2024 turnover, according to analysis by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.
The study examined 76 companies across sectors including IT, professional services, finance, oil & gas, energy, automotive, e-commerce, retail, FMCG, advertising, electronics, gambling and cosmetics. Each company occupies more than 4,000 sqm of office space in modern buildings.
Together, these companies lease nearly 1.1 million sqm of office space in Bucharest and major regional cities including Iași, Cluj-Napoca, Brașov and Timișoara. The capital and these cities have a combined stock of 4.5 million sqm of modern office space.
Vlad Săftoiu, Head of Research at Cushman & Wakefield Echinox said: "This is the second time we have analyzed office occupancy costs as a share of company revenues, following our 2020 study. Despite different circumstances, both analyses show that businesses allocate a small percentage of revenues to leasing modern office spaces. Despite recent pressures from minimum wage increases, inflation and higher physical office occupancy, these costs remain significantly below 5% of companies' revenues."
For most companies (53%), office occupancy costs account for less than 2% of turnover, while 31% spend between 2% and 5% of annual revenues on office space. The remaining 16% exceed 5% of turnover but none reach 10%. The companies achieved combined turnover of €41.1 billion in 2024, with approximately 120,000 employees working in the modern offices they lease. Office occupancy costs, including rent, service charges and utilities, represent approximately €180 per employee per month.
IT companies comprise 44% of the largest tenants, occupying 540,000 sqm and paying €130 million annually. Financial companies represent 11% with 180,000 sqm and costs of €50 million annually, while telecom operators account for 5% with 47,000 sqm costing less than €14 million annually. IT, financial and telecom companies represent approximately 75% of total occupancy costs among the largest office tenants.
