The size of the total Budapest office stock has not substantially changed since the previous quarter

The size of the total Budapest office stock has not substantially changed since the previous quarter. Most part of the 3,087,700 sq m (83%) is speculative office space, while the remaining 17% is owner occupied.

Members of the Budapest Research Forum (BRF) include CB Richard Ellis, Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield, DTZ, Eston International, GVA Robertson and Jones Lang LaSalle. The Forum has collected all information and now reports its Q3 2011 office market data. In Q3 total leasing activity on the Budapest market was 113,900 sq m. This is 32% above the Q2 level with the proportion of lease renewals staying high (42%), similar to the last quarter. In Q3 two large pre-lease agreements were signed on a total of 17,500 sq m, so they accounted for a 16% share within the total leasing activity.

Within the new leases, relocations played a significant part, therefore the vacancy rate of the Budapest office market has basically not changed on Q2 (20.6%) and stood at 20.7% at the end of September. Vacancy rate is the lowest in the ‘North-Buda’ submarket (15.9%) while the largest share of vacant stock can be found in the ‘Periphery’ submarket (31.1%). The total Budapest speculative office market vacancy rate still stands at 24.9% which is equal to the Q2 figure.

The two largest transactions in this quarter were two pre-leases. KPMG will occupy 8,500 sq m in the new office building being developed in the Váci Corridor by mid-2014. Among the lease renewals Nokia (6,500 sq m), Deloitte (4,800 sq m) and Zepter (3,350 sq m) can be named. All renewals took up a total 47,750 sq m. New transactions were signed on 35,000 sq m, while 13,600 sq m office space was leased thanks to existing tenants’ expansion.  During Q3 2011, 156 lease transactions were registered by the Budapest Research Forum, compared to 159 in Q2. The average transaction size was 730 sq m; 22 transactions were signed for office space larger than 1,000 sq m that is an increase with on last quarter’s 13 deals.

Budapest speculative office stock grew only by a minor extent (180 sq m), due to the size corrections in two speculative office buildings. Owner occupied stock did not change. There were no new completions in the third quarter of 2011.

Summary:

Completions (m²) 0

Speculative Stock (m²) 2,560,100

Owner Occupied (OO) Stock  (m²) 527,600

Total Stock  (m²) 3,087,700

Vacancy (m²) 638,500

Vacancy Rate (%) 20.7%

Speculative Take-up  (m²) 66,100

OO BTS Take-up  (m²)* 0

Lease Renewal  (m²) 47,750