Grade A office rents hold steady in Q1

Source: Xinhua | 2018-04-13

Grade A office rents remained steady in Shanghai’s core CBD markets in the first quarter of 2018 despite a large supply, latest data released by global property advisors showed.

The average rents at Grade A buildings in the CBD managed to hold flat, or were up 0.2 percent quarter on quarter, after six projects with a total gross floor area of 375,140 square meters — including One Museum Place in Puxi and Lujiazui Finance Plaza in Pudong New Area — were completed between January and March, JLL said in a quarterly report released yesterday.

“Domestic financial services companies, especially those in the asset management sector, continued to be a major demand driver in the local Grade A office market,” said Danial Yao, head of research for JLL East China. “Notably, robust demand from co-working operators — including both well-known players and newcomers — has been giving an additional boost to landlords.”

In Shanghai’s Grade A office market, about 150,000 square meters of net absorption, a measure of change in total demand, were contributed by co-working operators in 2017, taking up 13 percent of the city’s total. They are estimated to grow further to 180,000 square meters this year, according to JLL’s forecast.