"Colliers International": New wave of office development in Croatia starting

Colliers International Croatia says that a new wave of office development in Zagreb is underway, prompted by falling vacancy rates in recently constructed Class A offices. The findings come in the international property consultants' new Zagreb Office Market Overview for the first half of 2008.

The latest Colliers research says that vacancy rates in recently constructed Class A offices fell continuously through 2007 and have now reached a level of only 7%, a rate which is expected to fall to 5% over the course of this year.

New Colliers research for the whole of Europe shows that the lowest vacancy rates are in Kiev (0.8%), Vilnius (1.3%) and Bucharest (1.6%). By contrast Frankfurt has a rate of 15% and Budapest has a rate of 12.2%.

The current stock of Class A and Class B standard office stock in Zagreb comes to some 500,000 m2. Out of this around 280,000 m2 is Class A and 220,000 m2 is Class B. Over 95% of Class A office stock comes from projects which came onto the market in the 2006/2007 period.

Future office projects will need to offer additional value to the consumer, for example 'smart buildings', in order to attract and retain tenants. There will be increasing pressure for new buildings to conform to green building standards as sustainability becomes a major issue.

Vedrana Likan, General Manager of Colliers International Croatia, said, 'Any office building that is constructed now in Zagreb that does not conform to international green building standards runs the risk of becoming obsolete soon. It is more cost effective to willingly adopt the latest technology now rather than being forced to do so later.'

Tomislav Perovic, Managing Director of Colliers International Croatia, added, ‘Colliers International has already been recognized worldwide as an expert in consultancy, marketing and leasing of 'smart' and 'green' buildings. Our goal is to implement this experience in Croatia and to add value both to our clients, investors and developers, as well as to the booming office market that is about to enter this new wave of development.'

Philip Bay, Regional Director, Colliers International Southeast Europe, concluded, “I am proud of the high quality market research we produce. It is a valuable tool for clients, media and other real estate professionals, and just another reason why Colliers International Southeast is the leading property consultants in the region.”

The new research appears in the Zagreb Office Overview for the first half of 2008 and is available for download on the Colliers website (http://www.colliers.com/Markets/Croatia/MarketReports/).

Colliers International Croatia was awarded this year the prestigious First Croatian Kuna, given to the top 1% of companies in Croatia. Colliers International won the award in two out of three categories; for the most profitable and for the most productive company.

Colliers International Southeast Europe was named Property Consultant of the Year in for the region in 2007 for the second straight year.

Colliers International is a worldwide affiliation of independently owned and operated companies.