Lower employment, and the greater use of so-called agile workplaces, will mean less need for office space and more empty properties. However, the office sector has the potential to attract significant investment as an alternative to the stock market and other real estate segments.
That is the short and medium-term view of the office market, which experienced an exceptional 2019, when investment amounted to €3.7 billion, accounting for more than a third of all real estate investment. Last year also saw the highest volume of office space leased since 2017, although a 15% reduction in leasing was already forecast before the coronavirus hit, due to the cooling off of the economy, according to estimates from CBRE.
