Demand for purchase and lease of business real estate is growing in Moscow
The demand for renting and buying business real estate is growing in the capital. In this regard, the share of vacant office space in Moscow has been decreasing for the second year in a row. At the end of the third quarter of 2024, it amounted to 5.3% - this is the minimum value since 2018, said Maria Bagreeva, Deputy Mayor of Moscow, head of the capital's Department of Economic Policy and Development.
“Business activity is growing in the capital, companies are reducing remote work formats and increasing the presence of employees in offices. Under the influence of growing demand, the share of vacant space in Moscow continues to decline. At the end of the third quarter of 2024, the vacancy rate reached 5.3%, having decreased by 3.1 p.p. compared to the same period of the previous year. The share of vacant premises of class A decreased the most - by 4.5 p. p., which is connected with the desire of large companies to locate their offices in the premium districts of the city. Vacant offices of B category became less by 1.4 p.p. According to the results of 2024 market consultants forecast that the vacancy rate will not exceed 5.5%”, - said the Deputy Mayor.
The high demand for business real estate is confirmed by the dynamics of transactions: the volume of agreements on purchase and lease of Class A and B space in January-September 2024 exceeded 1.3 million sq. m. This is nine percent below the previous year's record, but better than the results seen in 2019-2022. The main buyers and tenants of premises were organizations with state participation, construction and manufacturing companies. According to experts' forecasts, by the end of the year the demand for offices in Moscow will reach 1.77 million sq. m.
The percentage of unoccupied business spaces continues to decrease, despite the high input of new premises. For January - September of the current year in the capital almost 700 thousand sq. m. of business real estate was put into operation - it is more than three times more than the indicator of the similar period of 2023. However, the supply does not keep up with the demand due to the fact that in 2015-2023 the volume of construction of office real estate was small and the market has formed a deficit of quality business premises. Over 80% of the offices commissioned this year were sold or leased before entering the market, which also indicates the demand for such facilities.
In the future, the situation may improve due to the active construction of business spaces. Today 98 multifunctional complexes and business centers are being built in the capital for the total amount of 933 billion rubles.
As the chairman of Mosgosstroynadzor Anton Slobodchikov noted, the volumes of prospective construction of administrative and business centers in the capital remain high.
“Only for three quarters of this year the committee issued 29 permits for the construction of such objects with a total area of 915,4 thousand square meters. m. And 19 of them on 779,1 thousand “squares” are planned to be built outside the central part of the city”, - Anton Slobodchikov told.
