Teleworking has not been the end of offices, as some prophesied and it has been precisely the technology companies, one of the sectors in which it is most widespread, that are now leading the rental of offices in Barcelona and, to a lesser extent, in Madrid, according to data from the consulting firm CBRE, which detects “a change of cycle in the office market” with a recovery in hiring to pre-pandemic levels.
José Mittelbrum, director of consulting and transactions for Offices at CBRE Spain, points out that although financial difficulties persist in startups, “companies in the sector continue to grow and maintain savage competition to attract the brightest professionals, so for them the Offices are now more important than ever.” Barcelona has once again become the most desired city in Europe to settle in, he says. “Digital talent is very capricious and likes this city, and there is a great availability of highly qualified workers. They are attracted by the sea, the climate, the quality of life... and now there is also a large supply of high-quality offices in 22@”, an area where high unemployment has even reduced rents. “The city previously competed with Lisbon, Porto, Malaga and even Polish cities for some implementations. But now the mix of Barcelona is unbeatable,” he assured, and advanced that new implementations of companies and technological hubs are being negotiated.
According to data from the consulting firm, in Barcelona technology companies have hired 20,000 m2 in the first quarter, and have exceeded 37% of rental operations in the city. In Madrid, for its part, they have contracted 20% of the space, with 28,000 m2, although 22,000 of them are the new headquarters that Siemens will build in the Las Tablas area, in the north of the capital. In Barcelona, for its part, the most notable operations were those of Amadeus (4,700 m2) and Rover (2,000 m2), both in 22@.
Office hiring has skyrocketed in the first quarter in the two capitals: 40% in Madrid, where it reached 148,000 m2, and 60% in Barcelona, with 100,000 m2. “It is true that the last quarter of last year was weak due to the uncertainty of the wars, and some operations were delayed. So 2024 will be good, but it will surely not close with such high growth.”
Mittelbrum predicts that “there will be years of great activity in the sector,” due to the need for companies to change to new office models. “They all want to attract the employee to the office, to go voluntarily because he is there better than at his house.” Thus, they invest more in decoration and personalization of spaces - the budget per square meter has skyrocketed by 70% -, with higher quality materials, more meters for each work space, outdoor spaces such as terraces and leisure areas, proposals of socialization and “amenities”, such as the offer of free fruit and coffee, and in a vibrant leisure and commerce environment. “Now it seems that teleworking has reached its peak – the average in Spain is 2 days a week, when globally it is 3 – so companies can plan the space they will need,” he explains. “So far only 20% of the tenants have moved out: everyone else remains.”
After the technology sector, the sector that has led the office market in the quarter is the pharmaceutical sector, both in Barcelona, with the rental by AstraZeneca of the Estel building for its life sciences hub, and in Madrid with the rental by MSD of the building. Botanic. “It is a sector that is very aware of environmental responsibility and the need to take care of employees,” Mittelbrum recalled. And behind them stands out the legal sector, with the moves of Garrigues, Broseta and Ontier, all in Madrid. “It is a sector where there were still lawyers working in closed offices, which with teleworking remain empty for a long time, and have finally moved to the collaborative model of open spaces. And the rest of the sector is going to join this trend,” the manager stressed.
The need to change offices mainly affects larger companies, in which the competition to attract leading employees is greater and therefore the offer of flexibility and teleworking is greater. Thus, explains Mittelbrum, on average the operations are 1,300 m2, compared to the 850 m2 that were rented on average last year.
“The big trend is polarization: towards more central locations and higher quality buildings,” he says. And this is being reflected in rents, which have risen as availability has increased. Thus, the rent in the best buildings in Madrid has skyrocketed to 42 euros/m2/month, 20% more than the 35 euros before the pandemic, while in Barcelona the biggest increase has occurred in the center of the city. city, where it has reached 24.50 euros, 15% more. Rents have only decreased in 22@, 5%, to 22.75 euros/m2/month, due to the high availability rate, which although it is decreasing, reaches 20%. “With the return of technology and large demands in the coming months it will be reduced,” he said.
Polarization also has losers: dozens of buildings have become obsolete and despite being centrally located, they do not attract tenants or only with large rent drops. “Many owners do not have the resources to invest in modernizing them, so they end up going up for sale. But if their location is not good, it is not even profitable to modernize them and it is preferable to change their use,” explains Mittelbrum, to hotels (27%) or especially homes (58%). Urban planning regulations make this impossible in Barcelona, which is why Madrid concentrated 80% of the changes of use in all of Spain last year.
