In the fourth quarter of 2020, 38,850 sq m of new office space was delivered to the Budapest office market infourschemes. Váci Greens E (22,460 sq m)was handed over in the Váci Corridor submarket, the Szervita Squarebuilding (8,450 sq m) was completed in the CBD and the Alphagon office building (4,690 sq m) was handed over in the South Buda submarket. In addition, the office component of Csalogány 43 (3,250 sq m) was delivered in the Central Buda submarket.

The total modern office stock currently adds up to 3,903,840 sq m, consisting of 3,289,090 sq m of ‘A’ and ‘B’ category speculative office spaceas well as 614,750 sq m of owner occupied space.

The office vacancy rate has increased to 9.1%, representing an increaseof 1.0 p.p. quarter-on-quarterand 3.5 p.p. year-on-year. The lowest vacancy rate of 4.3% was measured in the North Budasubmarket, whereas the Periphery still has the highest vacancy rate of 29.3%.

Net absorption dipped into negative territory during the quarter, as the total occupied stock decreased by 5,100 sq m.

Total demand reached 86,310 sq min Q4 2020, representing a 9% increase quarter-on-quarter, however it is a 57% decrease year-on-year. Renewals still made up the largest share of total leasing activity with 44%, followed bynew leases in the existing stockwith 42%, while expansions of existing premisesandpre-leasesin new developments amounted to 7% of the total demand, each.

The strongest occupational activity was recorded in the Central Pest submarket, attracting 20% of the total demand. The CBD submarket ranked second in this respect,attracting 17% of total demand, followed by South Budawith 16%.

According to the BRF, 111 lease agreements were concluded in Q4 2020; the number of signed transactions dropped by 35% compared to the corresponding quarter in 2019. The average deal size amounted to 778sq m. The BRF registered10 transactions concluded on more than 2,000 sq m office space, including one pre-lease, oneexpansion, four renewals and four new leases.

The largest transaction was a new agreementsigned for 4,590 sq m by Diligent Corporationin the Szervita Square office building. The largestrenewalwas a similarly sized, nearly 4,560 sq m deal in the Arena Corner, while the largest pre-lease deal was concludedfor 3,660 sq m of office space in the Millennium Gardens development.

The Q4 2020 office market statistics continued toreflect theeconomic changes triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, asthe demand volume lagged behind the norm of previous years and the number of transactions declined.

BRF