Office market Zurich

Although contractions in available office-space supply were registered last year in the submarkets District 2 (−6,400 m²), District 8 (−6,000 m²), and Kloten (−6,300 m²), increases in District 1 (+11,300 m²), District 5 (+10,500 m²), District 9 (+13,200 m²), and District 11 (+17,400 m²), as well as other smaller changes elsewhere, caused the total supply of available office space to expand by 31,500 m² in the Zurich region. A total of 392,500 m² of office space stood vacant as of end-2023, raising the availability rate in the Zurich region to 4.8% from 4.5% a year earlier.

Flex space providers and private banks in growth mode

Despite the expansion in supply, the Zurich office market stood out for its bustling activity. Strategy consultants Marsh McLennan and McKinsey each leased over 3,000 m² of office space in Zurich’s CBD. At the prestigious address Bahnhofplatz 1, Signature by Regus and Spaces are offering 5,000 m² of high-grade flex office space. Other flex space operators like Headsquarter, Satellite Office, and Flexoffice have likewise opened new locations in Zurich’s inner city.

LGT Bank is growing and has leased over 4,000 m² of office space at Bleicherweg 30 in Zurich’s CBD and on Soodstrasse in Adliswil to supplement its headquarters in Zurich. Two other private banks – DZ Privatbank and Bank Syz – have Zurich office market leased new offices in Zurich’s inner city, and Cornèr Bank has leased office space in Wallisellen.

Slowing market dynamics

Tables turned on the office market over the course of 2023 as demand cooled noticeably in recent months. Also, it came to public knowledge that several large-scale units in the existing stock of office space will come back onto the market in 2024 and 2025. The planned enlargement of supply through the addition of newbuild office space over the next three years though 2026 has shrunk to one-third the expansion recorded during the period from 2021 through 2023. Nevertheless, the current underlying conditions give reason to assume that the volume of available office space will likely increase in the quarters ahead.

The prime rent price in Zurich remains unchanged at a net CHF 925 per m² per annum, and demand for office space in prime locations is still intact. It is much more challenging to find tenants willing to lease office spaces in older buildings in locations with less-developed access to public infrastructure. The Opfikon/Glattbrugg area continues to report the highest office-space availability rate in Switzerland, at 29.9%.