If in 2008 the volume of leasing transactions reached nearly 230,000 sqm including leases signed before building completion, the rented office stock is likely to remain below 100,000 sqm. Furthermore, this nosedive is possible to gear lower revenues to brokers in the market, Horatiu Florescu, vicepresident at Colliers told Wall-Street.
50% market share
In 2007, in Bucharest, the prime and secondary Class A rents reached 203,000 sqm, and in 2008, the generally headline rental levels rose to 230,000 sqm, 60% of the transaction volumes being brokered by the rental division of Colliers International. Of the entire traded surface on office leasing segment, Florescu holds a 48% market share.
“In 2008, we had a roughly 50% market share, or even higher if we exclude direct transactions between tenants and landlords. My incomes fell by nearly 10% from 2007”, said Horatiu Florescu (photo).
As of September last year, there was no new transaction, but only completion of contracts negotiated in spring-summer. If there hadn’t been crisis, Colliers VP says some 30,000sqm could have been under transaction, given the fact that 2008 was expected to be a prolific year for the office market.
Horatiu Florescu sealed the latter transaction in December 2008, for nearly 14,000sqm lease to a multinational company, which he describes as a complex deal. As for expectations for next year, Colliers’ VP expects around 100-110,000 sqm subject to leases. “It is natural in an ever-changing market the revenues of brokers to decline”. However, Florescu says the quality of services is paramount, especially now.
“In times of crisis, the agents must focus on their relations with the customers, and on their real needs. For goods agents, the hard times are seen as profit-making opportunities, but now only two in ten brokers actually know how to make a deal differently”,
