The corporate market in the period of the pandemic not only faced a significant drop in gross demand, but the biggest battle took place in net demand, since vacancy far exceeded the spaces that were occupied.

In other words, with the restrictions for the use of spaces and the sanitation parameters, only part of the workforce was encouraged to attend and work from home was facilitated for a large part of the staff, which led to large empty office spaces that were previously busy.

The situation was aggravated by the enormous volume of buildings in progress that were in their final phases of construction and that were facing a diminished demand that had not yet decided how it was going to respond to the occupations in subsequent months. In March 2020, more than 1.18 million square meters were in the construction process to continue incorporating them into inventories in the main corridors of Mexico City.

Check here: Reforma and Insurgentes are the corridors where more offices are under construction

During 2021 and so far in 2022, the company managed to incorporate the guidelines to adapt gradually and then complete assistance to priority tasks, services, health, commercial and offices that would make the transition to normality, even with few restrictions. . For society, the cost of not producing or working was going to bring worse consequences than facing the health phenomenon with more knowledge of the facts.

In the case of Mexico City, there were six consecutive quarters with negative net absorption between Q2 2020 and Q3 2021, from there a turning point was generated towards positive net demand, which means that the spaces that were occupied exceed to those who were to surrender.

Thinking that the closing of the first quarter of 2022 had already come out of this negative cycle, a setback was generated again, indicating that companies and corporations still doubted that there would be a clear outlook that would allow them to plan for the medium term.

Now, with figures for the second and third quarters, a trend is observed, which, although it shows a growing gross demand, has managed to maintain vacancy at reasonable levels and allows a net demand of 62.7 thousand square meters to be registered in Mexico City in 2Q 2022 and 67.7 thousand square meters at the end of 3Q 2022.

In the most recent data from Solili in its October 2022 Solili Office Report, gross demand was reported to be 80% higher than that registered in 2021, so we could be facing a sustained recovery of the indicator.

Of interest: Sustainability and efficiency mark post-pandemic corporate spaces

Another factor that is added to the equation is the low amount of construction that has started from the pandemic, which has led to contraction of vacancies in the main alternative markets to the capital to decreases that begin to move them away from the oversupply.

For example, at the end of 3Q 2022, the Guadalajara corporate market decreased its vacancy by 5.8 percentage points while Monterrey, Querétaro and Tijuana contracted at a rate of 3.1 percentage points.

The companies have already adapted their structures and there would only be significant changes if, when their contracts expired, they find suitable offices with which they can negotiate spaces with greater advantages for their operations and that allow them flexibilities that they did not previously have, such as early deliveries and possibilities of expansion. .

Given this scenario, we could see company movements towards better locations or towards buildings with greater amenities or facilities.