The office market has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic. Macroeconomic shocks from quarantines, pressure on remote work, or rising interest rates have included: “various factors” Which the sector defines for a bad series in the recruitment of new professional spaces in Barcelona. According to data from the real estate consultancy ForcadellIn 2023 it closed with a decrease of nearly 40% in the agreed area, at approximately 239,000 square meters Signed by companies in the city. Last year, at this rate, was the worst in this area since 2013 – with the obvious exception of 2020 -. And at the end of the first quarter of 2024, the trend begins to reverse: as the real estate company points out CBREBetween January and June this year, more than 160,000 square meters of new institutional environments were agreed upon, 45% more than the previous year And 10 points above the quarterly average of the past five years. “It wasn’t about throwing rockets, but it surprised us. Compared to last year, it was a very good semester,” the director of the Forcadell office told Mon Economia, Manuel de Pace.
The explanations are varied and with many nuances, although the new attitude of companies towards the office market in the country’s capital can be summed up in a significant increase in certainty after years of economic turmoil. The improvement in the outlook for the global economy has been accompanied, especially in key sectors – such as technology or life sciences, which are clearly driving factors in Barcelona’s attractiveness – by a more friendly outlook for companies, which have seen much greater margin in their balance sheets to undertake new projects. Operations of this profile. In 2023, at a time when the corporate world is experiencing upheavals, it was “particularly worrying, with several factors coming together that have contributed to the fact that companies have not made decisions”; Vitality has arrived Lindy GarberDirector of A&T Leasing Offices in Barcelona at CBRE. They dared to do it without any quicksand under their feet. In fact, the specialist firms consulted agree to point out that a good number of the transactions closed during the first months of the year were “late decisions”; transactions that could have been agreed at the end of 2023, and which ended up, with greater certainty, at the beginning of this year.
That is, the celebration of the rest of 2024 is still being done with a relatively small mouth. Despite the clear recovery in activity, warns Garber, “it will be a good year, but there is still a way to go to return to pre-pandemic levels”. It should be remembered that, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield, 2019 was an absolute record year for corporate real estate in the city, with more than 1.8 billion euros invested and a total employment of more than 400,000 square meters. The market is gradually approaching these figures. It aims to be between 300,000 and 325,000 square meters, which “will be a very good year” according to De Bes. Whether this is a new normal, lower than the pre-Covid peaks, or whether there is a possibility of returning to last year’s data, real estate agents are staying informed. The high availability of corporate land in Barcelona is still there; “companies are recording a high level of employment”, confirms Forcadell. “The city has a lot of potential, and there is a lot of space to accommodate companies, especially in the higher education sector,” he analyses. Michael the borderpartner of the real estate consultancy Laborde Marcet; although it remains “an expensive city in all sub-sectors”. The businessman, who is particularly critical of the administrations, believes that the capital could be a “city”. summit The world if there was better political management.”
The big change compared to the same period in 2023, according to the experts consulted, is at the top of the fork of new appointments. The rise recorded until June is based on “the revival of operations of more than 2,000 square meters, which is significantly higher than last year,” de Besse analyses. According to Forcadell data, only four operations of this size were closed last year; this year, there are already 15. And although there were “several operations 12 months ago of between 1,000 and 1,500 square meters,” Garber points out that “more significant investments are needed to close a healthier financial year.”
Barcelona Biotechnology
The evolution of companies seeking to operate from Barcelona – or already there, but moving to spaces that better suit their needs – despite the higher pace, has been the evolution predicted by the sector. At the end of 2023, Forcadell already points to biotechnology in particular, and life sciences in general, as the main driver of the new profiles observed in the city. And they fit into a growing ecosystem: according to BioCat, the Catalan bioregion already has nearly 1,800 companies and organizations dedicated to health, research and other similar disciplines. In fact, the great process of the cycle has gone like this. This is the AstraZeneca center, in the Estel building, which is expected to accommodate up to 2,000 workers to transform the capital into a “reference” within multinationals and in the biomedical sector in general. This corporate profile is still very much alive, adds De Besse, “not through processes that are 100% fulfilled, but yes in requests for information, in visits …”. The world of technology for health will therefore be “one of the pillars of the coming quarters”; with an increasingly specialized approach. So much so that, as Garber comments, “there are already promoters who invest specifically in this sector”; because despite the abundant needs for many buildings dedicated to it, the profitability is very high. It should be remembered that many biotech companies are looking for buildings where they can house not only office workers, but also laboratories and other structures of a scientific or experimental nature. This is the case, among others, of the Stoneshield fund, which has acquired buildings such as the former Mediapro headquarters in Esplugues, or the former Bayer headquarters; assets that it will dedicate to the world of biomedicine. De Bess reaffirms: “This will be the trend in the coming quarters”.
Technology wakes up 22@
However, other technological fields have a lot to say. In fact, other major operations have taken place in branches such as video games, which have also seen a rise in the Barcelona business fabric. This is the caseWidelyLast month, a massive operation of over 8,000 square meters was completed at 22@. These movements are happening all over the city: companies that operate in relatively central offices, in old buildings, are jumping into newly built areas in search of different, more open and sustainable spaces. “Companies looking for offices are trying to attract not only workers to the space; but also external talent,” says Garber, who sees the growing demand for space “well connected and with many means of comfort For workers”; from entertainment venues to the gym or private kitchen. Scopely, among others, has joined forces with a fintech company specializing in mortgages TrioticaMaking the leap to corporate space with 600m contracted space. As CBRE confirmed, more than a third of contracts signed during the first half of the year belong to companies in the world Technique; much higher than in 2023, when it remained at 21%.
“22@ has modern buildings in the business district, with many services for workers. “This surpasses the old one,” assumes De Besse, who considers the corporate area “a spectacular urban success”. However, in the moments before its appearance, this did not seem to be the case: the great availability of offices, with many deliveries of new construction structures, had reached the hands of a market relatively stagnant due to economic instability. But now “it is noticeable for the first time that this availability has stopped growing”. In fact, according to figures provided to this medium by CBRE, the Poblenou district had collected “almost 40%” of the total surface area rented between April and June, making it “second in terms of employment” in 2024 alone. It is outdone by the downtown areas, where the data strongly characterizes the AstraZeneca operation which, in the opinion of the real estate world, represents a “paradigm shift” in terms of regular income among companies in the city. In addition, and beyond the surface, the three experts consulted agree that the new construction planned in the area provides Sustainability levels put them in the crosshairs of leading companies. Laborde stresses that environmental certifications “started out as a supplement you could take if you could afford it; but they have become more important.” De Besse responds that this is the case, especially since the multinational world “no longer thinks, in its strategic moves, about going for a building that does not have an energy certificate.”
“Infuriatingly humble social media buff. Twitter advocate. Writer. Internet nerd.”
