The education sector has taken over from technology and has become the number one lessor of offices in Barcelona in the first quarter of the year with 20,000 m2, 28% of the 73,000 m2 that were leased in the city, according to data from the JLL consultancy.
The director of the firm in Barcelona, Laura Caballero, emphasizes that "the sector is boosted by the Next Generation funds of the European Union and by the attractiveness of the city, which already has the base of digital professionals needed for the new projects" .
According to data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Spain will allocate 3,593 million euros of European funds to the digital transformation of the education system and to developing the digital skills of teachers and students. The possibility of capturing part of these funds has led to the opening of new facilities in Barcelona in Eada (4,150 m2 in the city center); Ilerna (5,600 m2 on Carrer Lepant); Hypatia (one of the brands of the CEAC group, with 5,940 m2 in the Europa building in l'Hospitalet de Llobregat); the Medac professional training group (2,700 m2), or Nuclio Digital School (1,500 m2).
"We are finding that international companies that do online training are looking for space in the city. Because even though the teachers who will teach the classes will surely work remotely, the entire technical team that maintains the platform will reside in Barcelona", Caballero points out. "Barcelona's position as the largest digital and technological hub in southern Europe is highly valued by schools and educational companies, which need to attract technicians here, but also teachers and students", he points out.
The education sector had accounted for just 7% of office hiring over the previous four years (2019-22), a far cry from technology, which on average took 28% of office space leased annually in Barcelona. At the beginning of 2023, this position has been reversed and the technology companies have rented only 9% of the offices.
"The situation in the financial markets has led many technology companies to reduce their workforce, and all of them to slow down their growth rate - points out Caballero. In addition, this is one of the sectors in which telework is more widespread", he adds. Thus, these companies are in many cases subletting part of the offices they had hired. "In general, the rent includes mandatory compliance clauses, which means they have to pay the rent even if part of their offices are empty," he points out. This formula also allows them to continue in the property if they plan to resume growth soon.
The shutdown of technology companies and the generalization of telecommuting or hybrid work formulas, which reduce the need for office space for companies, has meant that the pace of office hiring has decreased in Barcelona: during the first quarter is down 4.6% compared to the average of the last decade and 25% compared to the first quarter of last year.
This situation also occurs at a time when an avalanche of office buildings that began before the pandemic are coming to the market: 550,000 m2 according to the consultancy's data, a record for new supply, which will be delivered before 2025 and which will increase the available office space in Barcelona by 7%. Most of these projects will be in the technological district 22@, with 250,000 m2 (44% of the total), while a further 150,000 m2 (28%) correspond to buildings in the city center, in many cases from renovations. During the first quarter alone, more than 80,000 m2 of new or renovated offices were delivered, more than half to 22@.
The departure of new buildings has increased the availability rate in Barcelona to 660,000 m2: 8% of the city's offices are waiting for a tenant, with a rate that rises to 15.5% at 22@, but it is only 3.2% in the city center.
"The prospects that there will be an excess of supply that will cause the buildings not to be rented or lower the rents has caused many owners to stop the projects they had in progress", acknowledges Caballero. Thus, during the last six months, projects that added 150,000 m2 of additional offices have been paralyzed, according to data from the JLL consultancy, especially in the northern area of the 22@. "The office market is very professionalized and managers have preferred to wait for the new offer to be absorbed", he acknowledges.
Rents for the time being have remained stable in the best buildings and range between 28 euros/m2/month, in the business center (CBD) of Passeig de Gràcia and Diagonal, and 13.75 euros/m2/month, in the buildings of the periphery. However, beyond these "facial" values, negotiation proliferates, especially to attract large tenants, with offers of grace months in which the rent is not paid, and even to make payment for the adaptation works of the interior space to the new tenant.
