Prime rents continue to fall but bottom is near: BNP

Prime rents continued to fall across Europe by 1% in the third quarter of 2009, but the bottom is near, according to real estate adviser BNP Paribas Real Estate's latest Office Market Indices. Take-up on the other hand plunged 14%, the strongest fall since the beginning of the crisis.

The index measures office market take-up and rental activity across seven key European cities: Central London, Central Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Milan and Brussels. Most of the cities recorded either minor falls or similar take-up to the second quarter of 2009 with the exception of Madrid, which saw a fall of 20,000 m² in take-up; Frankfurt with a fall of 12,000 m² and Paris with the largest fall of 60,000 m².

Conversely, Central London saw a rise in take-up of 15,000 m² in the third quarter, most likely due to a quicker correction and some low rents, particularly in the City.

Tim Harlow, senior director at BNP Paribas Real Estate, said: 'The end of the tunnel should not be far but real recovery appears to be longer in the making in Europe. In fact, the employment market will continue to suffer which will continue to affect the occupier market throughout 2010. In the UK, there has been some more activity due to historically low City rents but we are still some way off from the date when we can expect rents to increase.'