Rising rents for office space at Amsterdam Zuidas
Real estate advisor CBRE has observed that rents for office space in the Amsterdam district of Zuidas are rising. This is evidenced by a number of recent rental transactions in the third quarter of this year in newbuild and renovation projects in the Amsterdam business district.
The higher rents are for spaces in newbuild and renovation projects such as Strawinskyhuis and WTC Tower Ten. As a result of these transactions, the average rent in the top segment has increased to an average of 475 euros per square metre per year.
Rental volume has more than doubled
The recovery of the rental market for offices at Zuidas is also reflected in the increased rental volume. This amounted to approximately 51,000 sq. m. in the first three quarters of 2021, over double the 22,000 sq. m. taken up in the last three quarters of 2020. A clear improvement since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Niels Hansen Associate Director A&T at CBRE: “Now that the uncertainty of the pandemic has been relegated to the background, businesses are feeling more confident about making decisions regarding the rental of new office space. It is striking that the take-up is driven by an interesting mix of businesses. Law firms De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek and DLA Piper made a conscious decision to stay at Zuidas and to move to newly renovated or newbuild projects that have received a sustainability boost. Uber’s decision to settle at Zuidas in early 2020 and software developer Jetbrains’ decision to opt for Terrace Tower earlier this year, again confirmed the increasing appeal of Zuidas on tech businesses. We see the same trend within the group of parties that is now actively exploring renting new office space at Zuidas. Should this development continue then we expect the rental volume at Zuidas in 2021 to top the long-term average of 55,000 sq. m. per year.”
Similar development in other European office cities
Joep van Vliet, Head of Research at CBRE Nederland, adds: “All over Europe we are seeing that businesses have a strong preference for sustainable, healthy and high-quality office buildings. We see that this leads to rising rents, particularly in cities with plenty of businesses in the technology and media sectors. These businesses have barely suffered from the recession and are now growing rapidly. The rental growth in the Amsterdam business district puts Zuidas on a par with the major European office cities. In Stockholm, Frankfurt and London the rents are also rising.”