Asia to lead global office development in 2011
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Global office development completions between 2001 and 2012
The focus of global office development activity has shifted to Asia as the world economy emerges from the severe financial downturn, according to the latest research from CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Global Research and Consulting.
Among the four major regions (Asia, Western Europe, North America, and the Pacific), only Asia will witness significant growth in office completions in 2010 and 2011, before slowing to a still slightly higher-than-normal level in 2012.
This high rate of office development reflects the strong corporate and investor confidence in Asia, excluding Japan. This confidence has emboldened developers in some of the region’s largest office markets to press on towards completing projects which had been delayed or halted briefly during the most severe part of the downturn.
Of the 293.2 million sq ft of office space expected to be completed in the leading global office markets between 2010 and 2012, some 65 per cent (190.6 million sq ft) is set to come on stream in Asia, according to the report. About 24 per cent (69.1 million sq ft) is slated for completion in the business hubs of Western Europe, whereas 8 per cent (23.1 million sq ft) will become available in North America and 4 per cent (10.5 million sq ft) will be in the pipeline in the Pacific region.
“Globally, office markets are strongly cyclical in nature. The long lead-in time for the construction of city centre office buildings frequently means that peaks in construction completions coincide with downturns in demand,” said the company’s global chief economist Raymond Torto.
