During the finalisation of this annual report, the world was overtaken by a serious crisis due to the COVID-19 virus.

Based on our assessment of the dynamics, opportunities and threats of the Dutch office market over 2019, we arrived at following vision of the Dutch office market:

The Dutch economy continued to perform well in 2019, although momentum did weaken during the course of the year. Real GDP growth amounted to 1.7% in 2019, which makes the Netherlands one of the most flourishing economies in Western Europe.

At a local level, a large number of local authorities are continuing to facilitate the transformation of outdated offices for other uses, supported by a lower transfer tax rate for residential property.

Before 2050, all office buildings will have to be made sustainable one way or another to convert them to low (or even net-zero) carbon.

The major demographic trends in the Netherlands are population growth, ageing and urbanisation. Due to the ageing of the population, the working age population (15 to 65 years of age) will start to decline from 2021 onwards.

Corporates experimenting with emerging technologies and the availability of capital for PropTech will transform the real estate industry and the way we work.

Related to the economic growth and positive outlook, companies are anticipating (further) growth, are more inclined to relocate and are more willing to invest in their office accommodation.

Given the low interest rate environment and the yield spread offered by real estate, investors’ capital inflow into real estate markets remained strong last year.

Bouwinvest expects multi-functional office locations with good access in big cities to continue to flourish in the coming period.