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The Ghent office market keeps developing |
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Owing to the realisation of various office buildings on different strategic locations the Ghent office market keeps developing. In total, the office supply in 2011 is estimated at nearly 1,4 million m². Which means a growth of 10% compared to 2006.
In total, 60.000m² of floor surface for offices has been marketed in 2011. That number is 20% higher than the average of the past decade. Furthermore, the low percentage of 4,4% of unoccupied offices at the Ghent office market proves that the market is flourishing and stable compared to the past years.
Volume of the office market
In 2011 quite a number of new office buildings have been realised or are still under construction.
Some relevant examples are the KBC Artevelde tower, which is still under construction, at the junction of the E40 and the Kortrijksesteenweg, the developments at The Loop site and the construction of the Flemish Administrative Centre at Ghent Saint Peter's railway station.
Owing to these investments, the Ghent office market keeps further developing to a total dimension of 1,39 million m² of floor surface for offices. Which means a growth of 10% compared to 2006.
Transactions As far as the registration of the transactions is concerned, we mainly base ourselves on all the agreements which have been concluded in 2011 for the rent or sale of offices. However, this does not concern by definition the effective occupation of the offices.
In 2011, the Economy Department has registered about 65 transactions at the Ghent office market. In total, about 60.000m² of floor surface has been marketed. During the past 10 years, the annual average amounted to 48.000m².
With an increase of 20% compared to the past 10 years, we can confirm that the Ghent office market did very well in 2011. A number of big transactions in 2011 are amongst others the removal of AG SOB to the "Bank van de Arbeid" at the Volderstraat (4.300m²) and the centralisation of the "Wit-Gele Kruis" (White-Yellow Cross) in the current Manchester building at the H.-J.-Reystraat (4.200m²).
Stable vacancyAt the end of 2011, the total percentage of unoccupied offices amounted to 4,4% in relation to the total office supply. For the fifth consecutive year, this percentage of unoccupied offices can be called stable and extremely low.
A frictional vacancy of buildings of 6% is considered to be acceptable in order to meet the immediate demand for office room.
Rental prices In 2011, the average rental price at the Ghent office market amounted to 106 euro/m² per year. The ‘prime rents', the so-called top rental prices for newly-constructed locations amounted to 145 euro/m² per year.
New and planned office developments In the years to come, a lot of extra office room will be created. Besides the construction of office projects at The Loop and Ghent Saint Peter's railway station, other projects such as the Artevelde soccer stadium and various smaller projects will create necessary new room at the Ghent office market.
During the next 15 years, the construction plans on these different locations provide an extra total expansion of approximately 250.000m², of which part is already effective under construction.
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