Despite the resumption of activities and the progress in the vaccination plan, the availability rate in the corporate market of Mexico City has increased during the first quarter of the year, reported the Newmark real estate platform.
According to the company’s report, a maximum point was reached in the availability rate, closing at 24.5%, which meant that there are 1.9 million square meters of class A office space ready to occupy.
“The inventory of the class A corporate market in Mexico City is approaching the mark of 8 million square meters (m²) of net leasable office area, representing the 20th consecutive quarterly increase, and it is expected to be surpassed by the end of the year. of 2022”, deepened the document.
The analyst of the Market Research division of Newmark, Mauricio Mondragón, pointed out that this incorporation of office space into the market, together with the still low occupancy (71,056 m² during the period), also caused the net absorption to have interrupted its trend ascending and has fallen once more until reaching 72,502 m².
Precisely, Insurgentes, Periférico Sur and Santa Fe were the three corridors that have experienced the highest vacancies and additions of buildings to the inventory.
With the apparent end of the rigid life restrictions derived from the pandemic, we will begin to see the permanent consequences that the confinement has left in the Mexico City office market, as vacancies increase again, despite the fact that during the Previous quarters showed a downward trend,” said Mauricio Mondragón.
The specialist pointed out that if the economy and service companies do not grow at a similar rate as office inventories, there will be constant increases in availability rates.
“The report of the first quarter of the corporate market in the country’s capital indicates that after speculation based on the health of the office market and the good conditions of accessibility, connectivity, infrastructure and services (…) the demand for offices decreased considerably, product of the economic slowdown and the confinement derived from the pandemic,” he stressed.
In addition, it projected that the unemployment trend could continue in the medium term. “It is foreseeable that the oversupply will continue for a few months, since there are still more than 330,000 m² under construction that will be incorporated into the market soon.”
The Newmark real estate report indicated that Insurgentes has positioned itself in this first quarter of 2022 as one of the most modern office corridors in all of Mexico City.
Since 2015, the inventory of class A offices in this submarket has increased at a rate of 16.5% per year.
In such a way that the existing net profitable area today is 115% higher than 2015; that is to say, it went from 552,000 m² to 1.8 million m² in a period of seven years, being the fastest inventory growth ever in Mexico City.
new needs
Given the increase in vacancy, the analyst from the Newmark Market Research division indicated that the office spaces in Mexico City must be rethought and meet the new needs of users.
“The great unknown continues to be the application of the hybrid way of working as a hegemonic labor model, since it is closely related to its conditions,” he said.
In that vein, he announced that Newmark carried out a survey on the post-pandemic perception of office spaces.
The results of the survey showed that workers and executives already identify the benefits of the hybrid model.
“This perception is beginning to materialize in the long-term decision-making of some companies that have chosen to make this their usual way of working, in which the office continues to be a fundamental element for collaborative activities and where spaces must be promoted. physical ones that foster this type of interaction”, reads the analysis.
Therefore, the analyst pointed out that the new office spaces must take into account the human being as the axis on which this new way of living, working and socializing revolves.