the Toulouse market takes on the colors (2/4)
Has the health crisis generated a crisis in the office market in Toulouse? Has the acceleration of telecommuting and the emergence of hybrid models concerning presence in the workplace compromised the tertiary real estate market? The answer is no, according to the latest analysis from OTIE, the Toulouse Observatory of Business Real Estate, which brings together seven office sellers in Toulouse, thus centralizing data on their transactions.
“The year 2021 is a year of real recovery after the halt in 2020, with in particular the return of transactions on supermarkets. The market is returning to normal. In connection with the difficulties encountered by the aeronautics sector, it there were a few surface releases in Colomiers and Blagnac, towns that concentrate subcontracting, but it was not the expected tidal wave”, analyzes Julie Pasques, director of the Arthur Loyd agency in Toulouse and vice- President of OTIE.
Over the whole of 2021, in Toulouse, 107,500 m2 of offices and business premises were rented or sold in this tertiary market which is picking up. By way of comparison, around 62,000 m2 of offices found takers in 2020, a period truncated by Covid-19. However, before the health crisis, 140,000 m2 of surface area or more had damaged the object of transactions since 2016.
“2016, 2017 and 2018 were historic years for the tertiary real estate market in Toulouse. There was a combination of needs and opportunities, all accompanied by positive economic activity. So, a normal year for office real estate in Toulouse is 2015 (during which nearly 120,000 m2 of offices had been sold or rented, editor’s note)”, explains the vice-president of OTIE.
The tertiary real estate market in Toulouse is back to its 2015 level of activity (Credits: OTIE).
Rental, big winner of the post-Covid19 market
Nevertheless, the post-Covid tertiary real estate market in Toulouse will be different. Businesses now seem to favor localization. “For large companies, in particular, the rent must be flexible and adaptable, so they favor location. The health crisis has reinforced the phenomenon of rental or even furnished rental, which already existed before“, continues Julie Pasques.
Thus, in 2021, according to the latest figures from the OTIE, 74% of transactions in Toulouse are in the form of rentals. A high range although the city was already known from the photos at 85%. In the Pink City, this phenomenon is maintained by the arrival of a new and important offer of third places of all kinds, co-working spaces and tertiary buildings with a multitude of services.
For example, by 2023, in the Montaudran district in Toulouse, near La Cité, will be born Autantyk. This business building claims a different state of mind from what is currently done on the tertiary market in Toulouse. The promoters of the project thus promise a building combining intra- and inter-company office spaces, common areas and services such as a reception, a concierge, a micro-nursery, a café, a restaurant and a cultural space. In addition, the managers promise a training offer for companies, as well as support for their transformation.
New offices that are long overdue
The attractiveness of such an offer, resembling a luxury business hotel, is also reinforced by a shortage of new properties on the office market in Toulouse, while the latter attests to a vacancy rate of only 5.2% according to the OTIE. After good years, the tertiary market in Toulouse is the victim of difficulties in obtaining building permits, like what is happening with new housing, but above all investors refuse to commit after a long period of uncertainty.
“Beyond land opportunities which are becoming rare, investors and pension funds that invest in these operations no longer want to go there for fear of losing profitability. Before signing, they want the demand from companies to be registered in the tables from now on”, notes Julie Pasques.
This accumulation of various factors against nine fonts that delivered programs are rare. According to OTIE, a major operation was delivered in 2020 in the Saint-Martin-du-Touch sector, another in 2021 at Innopole Labège and two are carried out in 2022 near Blagnac and Toulouse Aerospace.
“It also lacks a business district in the city center. This has been Toulouse’s fault for 20 years. It will be partly resolved with the Grand Matabiau quais d’Oc program, for which the first building must be delivered in 2023. But it will not yet be delivered that it will already be full, that’s for sure. It’s a coveted sector”, testifies the real estate professional.
It is in particular this urban renovation program that must accommodate the future Occitanie Tower, carried by the Compagnie de Phalsbourg, 150 meters high and 38 floors.
