Savills: Occupancy Rate of Málaga’s Prime Offices Reaches 90%

15 March 2018 – Eje Prime

The sun is shining over the office market in Málaga once again. The capital of the Costa del Sol achieved an occupancy rate of 90% in its prime office area, a figure that has not been seen since the start of the crisis.

The Málagan office market experienced significant demand last year in the central and financial districts of the city. In both areas, there was a notable reduction in office stock and rental prices rose to €18/m2 on the central street Calle Larios, according to a report from Savills Aguirre Newman.

In addition to Calle Larios, thoroughfares such as Corte-Inglés-Vialia recorded an increase in rents for spaces in the area up to €13/m2-€14/m2.

The main driver of the office market in 2017 was, precisely, the real estate sector. It was followed by technology companies, which, as usual, requested space in the most central parts of the city for offices with surface areas of less than 1,000 m2. Nevertheless, the tech companies that needed more space opened their offices in the Andalucía Technological Park in Málaga, according to the study.

Construction companies, law firms and telemarketing companies are also players with significant demand in the city’s office market, in which Savills Aguirre Newman has brokered operations spanning more than 10,000 m2 of office space over the last 15 months.

The consultancy firm indicates, moreover, that this trend is going to continue in 2018, which means that buildings that have been available for almost a decade will finally be occupied by new tenants. This growth in demand will lead to a record volume in terms of the number of rental transactions in the Málaga office park.

For this reason, Savills Aguirre Newman considers that, given the positive trend for the next few months in the office market, there is a need to develop new projects and to convert existing spaces in order to expand the office stock in Málaga. The Head of the Office Market at the consultancy firm in Andalucía, Aranzazu García, believes that “it is extremely important to identify an area of the city where we can establish future projects”, although, she says that “they must be conceived as exclusive-use spaces, to replace the mixed-use buildings that traditionally have carried a lot of weight in the city, with a market share of close to 50% in the city centre”.

In this sense, the executive believes that “the new projects must be positioned architecturally to house the corporate headquarters of international companies, to respond to their needs in terms of technical features, efficiency and sustainability standards, and locations that allow easy connections with the rest of the city, the airport, the AVE station and the main public transport services”.

Málaga’s Silicon Valley  

In addition to requesting new projects, García reflects on the use that may be given to the Andalucía Technological Park, located in Málaga. The director of Savills Aguirre Newman in the autonomous region calls on the competent authorities to collaborate in this area to position it as “the ideal enclave for the office market in the city or as the Silicon Valley of Málaga”.

In this regard, the executive hopes that they will resolve some of “the problems generated by the inadequate public transport network, with no forecast for a future metro line, service area and parking for users”.

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake