Companies seek new space a year ahead of relocating

The general manager of the domestic office of Colliers International real estate company, Bogdan Georgescu, says the limited supply of office space has been pushing major companies operating on the Romanian market to look for alternative space to relocate, a long time before moving.

“Three years ago, I would tell a customer in January he”d better start looking for a space to relocate the central headquarters in time for September, and the answer was the same: what”s the rush, we have plenty of time! Since then, the time interval has increased as companies have grown aware of the difficulty of finding quality space on the market,” believes Bogdan Georgescu, general manager of the domestic office of Colliers International real estate firm.

At present, companies start looking for a space to relocate approximately 12 months before they move.

“There is an increasing number of companies that have already experienced their first relocation and these start searching office space as early as 18 months ahead of moving,” adds Georgescu. However, given the limited supply of high-quality office space, demands by many multinationals operating in Romania, as well as by major domestic companies, are not that rapidly met.

“Demand continues to beat supply and this is why we often have cases when the same space is wanted by three companies. Under such circumstances, I can say we are speaking about a market of office space owners, and this will not change until the first half of 2008, when we might see a balance between supply and demand,” adds Georgescu. In this context, office buildings have proved a prolific business for developers so far.

Portland Trust, a company that was set up by several individuals operating on the Czech market has developed and already sold two projects on the domestic market, Opera Center and Bucharest Business Park, both being acquired by CA Immo Austrian investment fund. GTC, the real estate unit of the Israeli Kardan group, has also finalised its second office building on the domestic market, America House, this year, after selling the first two and a half years before to the Austrian-owned Europolis investment fund.

It is not only developers that have taken major steps over recent years, but customers and consultants, as well.

Georgescu says the process of choosing a new location for headquarters unfolds on the domestic market in accordance with the same standards as in any West European state.

“Globalisation has reached Romania, too. As the activity of multinationals” domestic units has expanded, the way relocation is carried out has become more complex. Whereas in the past only two in ten cases of meetings with multinationals had a special team effectively in charge with relocation, now eight in ten companies have a manager for real estate coming from the main or regional office (…),” explains Georgescu.