The Lisbon Office Market has closed this year very positively, with the recovery of take-up levels to very similar levels of those observed in the pre-crisis years 2007 and 2008 (although slightly lower than 2008, when the occupation of 62,000 sq m of the Campus de Justiça in Parque das Nações occured).

With 201,685 sq m of total area, in 2018 there was an increase of 21% in occupied GLA. According to Rodrigo Canas, Director of the Office Department, “2018 performed exceptionally well, especially if we take into account the scarcity of new supply in the Lisbon Office Market. The results achieved demonstrate not only the high degree of dynamics that the market is currently experiencing, but also the ability to adapt and respond quickly to owners and occupants. Lisbon is increasingly a city in the spotlight of many multinationals and international investors, which has helped to strongly leverage the performance of the office market.”

In 2018, 223 operations were recorded, meaning an increase of 11% of the operations accounted in 2017, with zone 6 (Western Corridor) and Zone 2 (CBD) registering the highest number of operations (57 and 50, respectively).

Zone 4 (Secundary Zone) has registered the worse performance of 2018, with a total of 4 transactions, that led to a total occupation of 7,435 sq m. The results observed are not justified by a decrease of demand, but for the lack of available supply on this area.

In what concerns the geographical distribution of absorption volume, zone 6 (western corridor) was the highlight area in 2018. 

With an improvement of 28% in performance (when compared with 2017), this market area has the largest share of stock in the Lisbon Office Market (933,746 sq m), and has benefited from the lack of new supply in the city center of Lisbon.

In terms of average occupied areas, the areas between 800 sq m and 3,000 sq m have verified the highest take-up volume, contributing to 43% of the total volume of the Market. Compared to 2017, the gap in area mentioned accounted an increase of about 59%.