2013: what to expect from the office market

Now that year 2013 is ahead of us, many are wondering what to expect from the office market in the next twelve months. According to the research, the main driving force will most probably be the foreign companies which work in the production and services sphere, as well as the outsourcing companies. These will most probably be registered companies in Bulgaria, which will pay taxes here and will hire local employees. The big international companies are focused on the optimization of their expenses and that is why they will keep on searching for other ways and countries to make business. These will be destinations, where the political situation is stable, the tax levels are low and the sums for salaries are affordable for them to cover.

This tendency has already started in Bulgaria and will be valid for the next year as well. Bulgaria, and especially its capital Sofia, as well as other of the major cities like Plovdiv, Varna and Bourgas, will put efforts into creating corporate business centers, which will be modern, with the required facilities and prestige city address. These business centers will be of the highest class A and will answer the requirements of the international companies that plan to operate here. These will be IT and HR companies, accounting companies, logistic companies, express services, call centers and companies that offer different administrative activities and services. Besides the already existing outsourcing companies, there will be new ones that will emerge on the market and this will lead to demand for new working places in modern offices. Big investments are also expected in the industrial sector, which will be stirred by companies that want to relocate their production to Bulgaria and reduce their expenses made in the process of production.

The rented offices in Sofia during the first nine months of 2012 amounted to 71 150 sq.m, which is with 50 % more if compared to the same period the previous year and with almost 18 % more when compared to year 2010. In year 2012 the tendency of the big companies to expand their business to Bulgaria continued. Companies like Coca-Cola Enterprise and Ingram Micro are just two of the companies that set the example. The bank sector was also busy moving offices. Two of the bank institutions, Alpha Bank and Post Bank moved to new head offices in modern office buildings of their own. In general, the companies are looking for office buildings of the high class, with the required facilities. Some of the companies are searching for top locations in the city center, others are looking for the business zones along “Bulgaria” Blvd. and “Tsarigradsko Schousse”, while others are considering the new office building “Sofia Airport Center”. The rental levels are varying between 9 and 15 Euro per sq.m., depending on the location and the class of the office building. According to the statements of the experts and their prognoses, the offices that will come into operation in year 2013 will amount to almost 28 000 sq.m.