Analysing, explaining and quantifying office vacancies in Brussels

The current rate of vacancies for offices in Brussels is 9.8%. Today the Region is publishing a study that is the result of cooperation between two of its administrations, the AATL and the BRDA.

AATL & SDRB: combining their skills and their tools

The planning department of the AATL (Land Use Planning and Housing Administration) and the Inventimmo service of the BRDA have brought together their skills and tools. By assembling, comparing and processing their data according to an advanced methodology, the latest edition of the Observatoire des bureaux describes, explains and quantifies the current size of the office areas available in the different districts of the Capital.

The results of the study

The study makes it possible to assert that the current availability is sufficient to accommodate the demand in the existing offices or those planned, without it being necessary to speed up the urbanisation of land that is still unused.
In fact, the vacancy rate for the entire Region is 9.8 % with significant differences by district, going from 5.6 % in the 'pentagon' (inside the area of the medieval walls) to 18.5 % in the 'Deuxième Couronne Est'.

The duality between centre and decentralised areas clearly appears. The centre is doing better than the decentralised area, which itself is experiencing fewer vacancies than the periphery. This is a situation that Brussels shares with numerous cities all over the world: under less good economic conditions, the availability of offices goes up while becoming more distant from the places where decisions are taken.

The study also reveals other first-hand figures:
- 73 % of the offices are concentrated in the pentagon and the municipalities (communes) of the inner ring;
- the vacancy rate in the European district is 10.9 %;
- in spite of a higher vacancy rate, 150,000 m² are planned in the decentralised zone and 147,000 m² in the centre;
- the rental prices are the highest in the European district and the lowest in the decentralised zone.

The complete study (pdf 2.7 Mb)
Press Release of 23 January 2008 (pdf)