Utrecht office stock will expand significantly over the coming years, in contrast to other Dutch cities

According to the research report 'City Special Utrecht Offices' published today by international real estate advisor Savills, the city of Utrecht is expanding its office market in the Central Business District (CBD). From now up to 2022, a further 200,000 sq m of office stock will be added to the CBD, adding to a current stock level of 780,000 sq m. In the other G4 cities, office stock is continuing to decline sharply.

With a current stock of 2.8 million sq m, Utrecht is the fourth largest office market in the Netherlands (after Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam). Savills notes that whilst stock has risen in recent years, vacancy rates - particularly in the CBD - have shown an opposite trend for years and are steadily declining. This confirms the growing demand for Utrecht offices, which is further stimulated by the increasing quality of the office stock driven by transformations/withdrawals and new developments. The vacancy level in the CBD currently stands as low as 3%.

Christian Taphoorn, associate director at Savills Utrecht, explains: "For years Utrecht has known a shortage of high-quality offices in the train station area. The CU2030 project has turned this area into a full-fledged CBD, where new developments are necessary to meet future demand. With new high-quality supply coming onto the occupier and investment market, Savills sees this as a progressing market."

Sander van den Engel, associate director at Savills Utrecht, adds: "We expect to see effects of the stock expansion reflected in the performance of the real estate market, with stable take-up levels of over 100,000 sq m and slightly rising rents. Especially now that core investment product in other cities is becoming increasingly scarce, Utrecht provides a good alternative market. As a result we expect an increasing interest from (foreign) investors leading to an increasing investment volume."

Download the full report here.