Swiss commercial office space market holding up well
In the short term, however, there will also be opposing trends: As a result of future increases in hybrid working situations and more employees working from home than before the pandemic, demand for office space is likely to be 15% lower by 2030, at least temporarily. Traces of this development can already be seen in the market. With the supply of office space currently increasing again, the availability rate rose slightly from 5.5% to 5.8% within a year.
Demand for office space, however, has not yet been so poor – especially in comparison with many foreign markets. A number of lease renewals and also new contracts have been observed in the market. And so far, structural changes have barely been visible. And in the end, ongoing uncertainty about future office space demand also means that only in isolated cases are tenants actively giving up office space or failing to renew their leases.
In addition, during the lengthy normalization process, the important role that a central office plays for communication and particularly for innovation within a company will become increasingly obvious. With time, the drawbacks of working from home will become increasingly noticeable and returning the office will likely gain in importance. As a first step, additional demand, which was estimated to have dropped to around 260,000 m² in 2021, will increase this year to around 360,000 m².
Industry contributions to long-term growth in commercial office space
In percentage points, 2019 to 2060, without the working from home and digitalization trends