Lithuanian commercial market waits for increasing development of local companies
For the Lithuanian commercial real estate market, 2011 year started smoothly and without any larger changes. For the first quarter of this year, the rents and sales prices of commercial premises have been almost on the same steady level, occupancy figures have been stable, while the most portion of new construction projects still is considered only on paper. Such a situation in the market absolutely correlates with the country’s economic situation: only insignificant positive changes are noticed, while more serious changes still are expected.
In 2010, the most noticeable changes in the commercial real estate market were fixed in the Vilnius modern office sector: The level of vacant premises reduced from 17.7% to 9.9% per year, which is almost twice as little, while rents increased approx. by 10%. Compared to 2009, the floor space of rented office premises increased from 26,000 to 51,000 sqm. It should be noted that these changes were materially predetermined by the decisions of several large companies to take an advantage of the situation which is particularly favourable for tenants, when rents reached the lowest level, while the number of vacant premises in the market is the largest since the beginning of development of the market of modern offices. In 2010, two thirds of all rented premises of the modern business centres of the capital of Lithuania – in business centres Green Hall, Vilniaus Verslo Uostas, and Beta were taken by four companies (Barclays, TEO, Western Union, and SEB) on the basis of rent contracts. Only one third of rented premises, the rented floor space of which was 100 to 300 sqm, were occupied on the basis of smaller contracts (mainly concluded with local companies).
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