Office occupancy in Istanbul hits 10-year high

ISTANBUL

Office occupancy in Istanbul, Türkiye’s financial and commercial center, has hit a 10-year high of 84.9 percent as of June, according to a report by C&W Türkiye International.

The city’s office market has recovered fast from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the general office supply in Istanbul standing at 6.46 million square meters.

Additional office space of around 1.5 million square meters is expected to be made available this year as other phases of the Istanbul Financial Center (IFC) open in the rest of 2023.

Apart from offices, the IFC will also include a 100,000 square meter shopping mall, a congress center with the capacity to hold up to 2,100 people and a 30,000 square-meter five-star hotel.

The report noted that in line with strong demand, prime office rents in the city increased in the April-June period.

In the second quarter of 2023, prime office rents in Istanbul leaped by 61 percent in the U.S. dollar terms from the same period of last year.

The most expensive offices were in Levent, the city’s financial district. Levent’s monthly office rent was 765 Turkish Liras per square meter. Office rent in the Esentepe-Gayrettepe area was 516 liras per square on a monthly basis. Rents were around 455 liras per square meter in Maslak and at offices located on the Asian side of the city.

In Ankara and in İzmir, the country’s third largest city by population, office rents were 268 liras/square meter per month.

High street rents

Rents on Istanbul’s high streets increased more than 144 percent in U.S. dollar terms in the second quarter of 2023 compared with the same period of last year, according to the report.

The Adbi İpekçi Street was the most expensive with monthly prime rents at $250 per square meter, taking over the famous İstiklal Avenue’s spot after 13 years.

On İstikal Avenue, monthly rents averaged $220 per month.

Monthly store rents on high streets were 4,545 liras in Istanbul, 1,960 liras in the capital and 1,860 liras in İzmir, said the report.

In the first half of 2023, three more shopping centers opened, bringing the number of total malls in the country to 448 with a total space of 14 million square meters.

The report also noted that foreign carmakers in Türkiye are increasing production and mulling new investments which will give a boost to investments in the logistics sector.

A Chinese car maker is expected to announce an investment by the end of the year, which will mark the first greenfield investment in Türkiye’s auto industry in 26 years.

Foreign electric carmakers also put Türkiye on their radar, the report said.