Offices, where are we headed?
On Thursday 22 October, Savills Aguirre Newman presented the 2020 third-quarter data for the office market at its 3rd “Office Pulse”, an event that took place in Barcelona and was streamed live by over 400 users.
With the title “Offices, where are we headed?”, Savills Aguirre Newman presented the third-quarter data for the office market at an event featuring Hipólito Sánchez, head of Offices Spain; Ángel Estebaranz, national director of Offices Madrid; and Natalia Montal, associate director of Offices Leasing Barcelona.
Hipólito Sánchez highlighted, “We currently have good fundamentals like low availability in the office market, plus international investors are committed to our country.”
Ángel Estebaranz confirmed that the demand in Madrid “showed slow but steady reactivation in the third quarter. Vacancy rose slightly and starting rent prices held steady, although there have been some temporary adjustments.”
Finally, Natalia Montal noted that in Barcelona “new leases aren’t showing a surface reduction.”
After the data was presented, the event featured a debate on future trends in the office sector, with Carolina Marcos, deputy director general of Alting; Albert Alcober, COO of Colonial, and Daniel Mayans, managing director and head of Spain for the Freo Group.
Carolina Marcos highlighted that “location, energy and space efficiency, flexibility and sustainability are all fundamental aspects we have to make sure our assets have in order to give them the very best quality.” And therefore offer attractive properties that stand out on the market.
Daniel Mayans focused on energy certification in buildings and the importance of users, as “users are the focus and what give the property value.”
While Albert Alcober affirmed that right now “there is an increase in potential demand, with fewer contacts but of higher quality.”
The debate concluded that the office market is in a very special situation, given the current, exceptional context.
The hybrid model that combines telecommuting and working from the office will be a trend today and tomorrow, having revealed that offices are a strategic asset for organizations’ development. This will make the office sector resilient over the coming years.
