Demand for Grade-A offices on the rise in Guangzhou

Financial organizations, especially insurance companies, continued to develop strong demand for Grade-A offices in Guangzhou in the first quarter of 2022, according to a new market report.

Two big players in the insurance sector have moved to the city's booming Pazhou business complex in the past three months, claiming a combined rental area of more than 11,000 square meters.

However, the overall vacancy rate of Grade-A offices in the city climbed to about 13.6 percent in the past three months, while the rental price dropped about 0.9 percent compared with a quarter earlier.

The increase of vacancy rates and drops in rental price were mainly due to the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic according to the report, which was released by global real estate service provider JLL on Wednesday.

"Some companies had to delay their business expansion plans due to the sporadic COVID-19 pandemic," said Ma Weitu, director-general of JLL South China's commercial real estate department.

According to the report, there will be 800,000 square meters of new offices in the city in the next three quarters.