Natalia Muscatelli
07/11/2020 - 10:04
- Clarín.com
- Economy
- Economy
The office market was impacted by the Covid crisis that involved serious restrictions on movement and the temporary closure of most workspaces. In this context, today there are 127,059 square meters (m2) of offices available . This is equivalent to a vacancy that climbed to 9% in the second quarter of the year when compared to the 109,355 m2 in the previous quarter. In other words, the available area of these corporate spaces increased 15.3% compared to the previous quarter, according to the latest report by Cushman & Wakefield, a corporate real estate services company.
The areas with the largest number of free spaces, according to this survey, were Avenida del Libertador, in the City of Buenos Aires (27.6%), Puerto Madero (13.1%) and the Panamericana-Gral node. Peace (11.3%). Of all the vacant surface, the metropolitan area concentrates 55.6%.
According to José Viñas , director of Brokerage at Cushman & Wakefield, “in the current context, new unknowns arose in the market for both owners and tenants. Because, due to the impact that the pandemic had on the businesses of each company, the tenants are still evaluating its magnitude and this analysis can lead them to define new real estate requirements in the short and long term, "he said.
office market
“Landlords, in turn, are having to make decisions regarding their tenants while the offices are not occupied. In the long term, they will have to decide how to react to the potential requirements of the occupants of their buildings ”, the manager analyzed.
According to the Cushman report, the absorption of the quarter, that is, the amount of space that the companies rented, was negative at 11,921 m2. This figure reflected, on the one hand, the greater offer of vacant spaces and, on the other, the lack of signed rentals due to the impossibility of moving.
Demand remained on hiatus and awaiting future political and economic measures, they explain in the firm. “Currently, renovations and renegotiations are what take precedence. If there is a financial hardship on the tenants, the owners are often empathetic and seek to foster relationships that extend beyond the current rental term, "he says.
Regarding the average rental price, Lucas Desalvo, the company's research manager commented that it remained practically unchanged, at least in the published values. They were located at an average of US $ 30.3 per m2, without yet reflecting any impact derived from the world situation as a result of the pandemic. The average for the downtown area was 8.3% higher than the non-downtown area. In this sense, the Catalinas-Plaza Roma and Libertador offices in CABA remained the highest values since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, the decreases in the order price are observed in those availabilities that have been on the market for more than twelve months, they explain in the sector.
Regarding the surface under construction, there are 222,498 m2 that would increase current inventory by 15.9%. The 100,000 m2 expected for this year could suffer delays because it is an activity that, at the end of the second quarter, continues without being authorized by the Government.
Available office space
The surface in project remains stable at 641,095 m2 . The reactivation of these buildings would imply large growths in the areas near the Pan-American-General Paz node (+ 138.3%), Libertador GBA (+ 78.2%) and Catalinas-Plaza Roma (+ 68.9%).
According to Matías Celasco Correa, research manager economist at CBRE , a company that also monitors the corporate market, there are around 2.4 million meters of offices, of which about 190 thousand are available. “The values are very similar to those that existed in the pre-pandemic. There was not much movement in the market in this sense, "he says. And, with respect to the sale," it should not be more than 3/4% of the market at most, "he points out. According to the executive, "the Argentine corporate market has few transactions, although perhaps from the moment of quarantine and inflationary risks, the buying and selling will begin to move more," he said.
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