During the presentation of its annual report on the office vacancy rate in the Brussels region and its periphery, the regional development agency CITYDEV and Inventimmo reported a slight decrease in the vacancy between 2012 and 2013 . They also swept an entrenched cliché about a possible competition between the city and the suburbs .
Start with the statistics : the overall vacancy rate, which is around 8%, hides a striking contrast between Brussels and its suburbs. In the central areas , the vacancy is 4 to 7%, while it reached more than 30 % in the periphery, although this figure has declined somewhat. In numerical terms, this means that about 1.6 million square feet of office space located in the airport area (where for 75 % of all offices in the periphery), approximately 500 000 m² are empty. For example, Keiberg Park (the oldest business park, which dates from 1970 ) has a 55% vacancy, and Ikaros Park a rate of 48%. This contrasts with the Pegasus Park which, with a vacancy rate of 11% is close to the overall vacancy figures .
Two other factors have an impact on reducing vacancy rates: the emerging trend to reduce the space occupied by workstation and that companies renegotiate the conditions of their existing buildings rather than move in new offices. A striking example has also been given to this topic: PricewaterhouseCoopers has renegotiate a 9-year lease for the rental of the building located at Boulevard de la Woluwe 150 €/m²/year against € 200 before!
Source: Profacility
