CBRE Switzerland Office Take Up Index

Zürich, July 2022

First publication of the CBRE Switzerland Office Take-Up Index on Swiss office space take-up

CBRE Switzerland publishes its CBRE Switzerland Office Take-Up Index for the first time. The index is based on the advertisements switched off on the real estate online marketplaces and traces the quarterly volume of space let on the Swiss office market. It is a highly up-to-date indicator of office demand and is presented for the whole of Switzerland and for three geographic sub-markets (see figures below).

All sub-indices have shown record activity in office lettings since the fourth quarter of 2021 and especially since the beginning of 2022. Although the economic recovery is currently being hampered by new global uncertainties, overcoming the Covid-19 crisis has prompted companies to restart their often-paused real estate projects. In the suburbs of the largest Swiss cities, too, rental activity has recently picked up again (see Figure 3). The only slight increase in the movement of space turnover in the cities themselves (see Figure 2) can be explained by the fact that the average availability rate here is a low 3.1%. As a result, large-scale rentals of space are now rare or “off-market” away from the measurable online channels. By contrast, take-up in the rest of Switzerland outside of the metropolitan areas of the major cities is already declining slightly (see Figure 4).

The pronounced desire for centrality with the end of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a further decline in office vacancy rates in the inner cities, which is why take-up is now also shifting to the well-developed suburban areas.

David Schoch, Research & Consulting CBRE Switzerland
Figure 1: Office space take-up throughout Switzerland
Figure 2: Take-up of office space in the cities of Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern and Lausanne
Figure 3: Take-up of office space in the suburbs of Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern and Lausanne
Illustration
Figure 4: Office space take-up in the rest of Switzerland (Switzerland excluding the cities of Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern and Lausanne and their suburbs)

Methodology description:
The quarterly calculation of the take-up is based on the advertisements on real estate online marketplaces and is shown as a centered average of three quarters. If advertisements are removed from the network and not re-activated within a certain period of time, they are included in the take-up. Direct rentals, ie the rental of space that was not advertised on the online marketplaces, are not taken into account here, which has a negative impact on the amount of the take-up. For example, in the case of larger properties, the pre-letting of project developments or owner-occupied new buildings, not all or no areas are advertised. At the same time, for various reasons, areas are always completely or temporarily taken off the network without a successful letting taking place, which in turn has a positive effect on the amount of the take-up. Lease renewals are not part of the take-up. The index is based on the first quarter of 2009 (= 100) and thus falls at a time that was characterized by temporarily negative economic development and the beginning of the low interest rate phase that has persisted to this day.

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