Construction new offices drops by 60%

The Dutch office market is having difficult times. NVB (Dutch Association of Project Developers) expects the production of new office developments to decrease by 60%. In terms of money this would mean that the construction industry would miss out on EUR 1.1 bln by 2004. The same would more or less apply to industrial real estate developments.

These were the results of two studies: Â'Thermometer KantorenÂ' and Â'Kantoorgebruikers in ProfielÂ', which the NVB commissioned to the University of Utrecht and research agency STOGO. Noticeably the urge from companies to move have declined dramaticaly. Last year no less than 24% of all interviewed companies expected to move shortly, today this is only 7%. The main reason is ofcourse the present economic climate: jobs have hardly increased, so that no larger new premises are needed.

Also the new proposal by government to abolish the fiscal depreciation on commercial real estate from January 1, 2003 onwards (see elsewhere on TodayÂ's News) will only contribute to a declining market for new office developments.

(source: NVB)

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