More than 50% of international companies continue to rent offices in Moscow

The decision of international companies to leave the Russian market had practically no effect on the share of vacant space in the capital’s business centers, IBC Real Estate analysts told Izvestia on July 31.

The experts conducted a study and found out how the situation is developing with the office space of foreign organizations that have announced a change in the procedure for working on the territory of the Russian Federation.

According to the results, the volume of office space previously occupied by companies that are leaving or have suspended their activities is 740 thousand square meters. m, or 3.7% of the total volume of the Moscow market.

“51% of international companies, despite the announcement of withdrawal, continue to rent office space without any changes. Most of these companies belong to the “manufacturing” segment (Colgate-Palmolive, Philip Morris, Novartis). Half of these companies have already localized, having sold their business to Russian divisions, the other half have not yet decided on a further business strategy and continue to retain their office lease, ”the experts noted.

At the same time, 11% of foreign tenants, having retained their presence in the Russian market, have optimized rental costs by reducing office space, giving up part of the space, subleasing the vacant premises or moving to a smaller office.

And only 22% of foreign companies decided to terminate the lease agreements, and more than half of them finally left the country.

“In this regard, 134 thousand square meters were brought to the market. m of premium space. The freed up areas are in active demand among Russian companies, as well as among companies from friendly countries, and, most likely, will be sold in a short time, ”the analysts concluded.