Barcelona’s office market grew by 8.8% in 2018 compared to the previous year, reaching 370,000 square meters of surface area contracted, and thus recorded the best figures of the last 11 years.
The good results are attributed to the interest of international companies and technology companies to locate themselves in the Catalan capital and the resounding success of shared work spaces or ‘coworking’.
In fact, up to 60% of the surface contracted in 2018 corresponded to companies of foreign origin, and on the other hand, technology companies accounted for 30% of the contract.
The operators of ‘coworking’, on the other hand, have doubled the hiring of offices in Barcelona and reached 46,700 square meters of surface area, which represents 12.6% of the annual calculation of the market.
The availability rate of the office market in Barcelona stood at the close of 2018 at 8%, six tenths of a percentage point less than in the previous semester.
The shortage of available space continued to boost the promotion of offices and pre-letting operations, which in the second half of 2018 accounted for more than 25% of the hiring.
On the other hand, the rent of offices in Barcelona registered an interannual increase of 12% in the second semester of 2018, placing the square meter in Barcelona at 15.1 euros on average, while in the sale there was an average increase of 11% compared to the previous year.
The main operations of the investment market in offices of 2018 have been directed to the development of new projects through the purchase of finalist land or old industrial buildings.