BEIJING -- China's metropolitan cities saw an active office market in the first quarter, with the net absorption in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou witnessing an obvious rise this year, due to a growing demand for office space, a report by Haozu.com showed on Wednesday.
With a growing new supply of offices entering the market from January to March, the demand remained stable, driven by many companies that sought for a new location after the Spring Festival, according to Haozu.com, a major domestic online-to-offline commercial real estate service platform.
"And the active renting trend is likely to continue throughout the year," said Kuang Jianfeng, director of Haozu's research department.
The office rental in Shanghai and Guangzhou remained stable, while that in Beijing it saw a dip of 0.8 percent and Shenzhen experienced a rise of 4 percent quarter-on-quarter.
Companies in the high-tech, financial and services industries were the major drivers for the market demand, among which high-tech sectors contributed the most.
The country's further opening up of service and financial industry will also bring new demand from overseas participants, the report said.
"Thanks to the steady growth of the country's economy, investors will keep a great interest in big real estate deals this year, among which, office buildings are still their favorite option," said Kuang.
According to the report, co-working space, where different companies rent seats and share office rooms, will become a trend.
Beside startups, it has won more popularity among small and medium-sized companies these days due to its low cost, flexible tenancy term and multiple functions.
China's co-working space unicorn Ucommune, for instance, purchased three co-working space operators Hongtai New Space, Wujie Space and Wedo Union this year. Its market value was estimated to reach 11 billion yuan ($1.75 billion), and it had 160 operations globally, attracting more than 6,000 enterprises.
Now co-working space providers are no longer content with simple expansion, but stress more on community construction and improvement of user experience by introducing technological tools, according to the report. (Source: China Daily)
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