European prime office rents fell by 8% in Q1 2009, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s European Office Clock report.
JLL said that a rental decline of this scale was “a fall not witnessed in the Index before”
The Office Clock is based on the performance of 24 markets.
Overall this equals falls of 34.8% over the year in the
The major German cities saw rental declines of between 2% and 5%, marking their first falls in this cycle.
Office take-up has also slowed throughout the first quarter, with a fall in overall European office leasing volumes of 37%.
JLL said that the Central and Eastern European (CEE) markets had been “particularly affected by the deteriorating economic conditions and outlook” with take up down by 41%.
The overall European vacancy rate increased to 8.5% over the quarter.
Chris Staveley, head of JLL’s cross border team, said: “Many office projects have been cancelled or postponed in recent months; however the dramatic slowdown in office take-up is putting increased pressure on prime rental levels.
“These market indicators demonstrate that widescale recessionary conditions have arrived to strongly impact the region’s occupational markets.”
The latest European Office Clock report can be seen here: http://www.joneslanglasalle.eu/EMEA/EN-GB/Pages/EuropeanOfficePropertyClock.aspx
