Latin America. While it is true that in the last year around the world there have been changes that have brought some uncertainty and modifications in supply and demand in the real estate markets and there was a suspension of the industry in general and particularly the sanitary measures had a direct impact on the commercialization of the market, there are good trends.
This was stated by Carlos Robles, director for the Central American region and Danny Quirós, director of the market research division of Newmark Central America, when participating in the table A look at the future of the corporate office sector: analysis and trends 2021, within the virtual meeting Commercial Real Estate Trends 2021, held in San José de Costa Rica.
They added that in 2021 a moderate growth of the supply will be observed, due to the uncertainty that still prevails, the resumption of the construction of some projects that due to the same security measures were stopped or paused and the future projects are evaluating and measuring the result of the last months of the year to resume their development plans.
"There has been a reactivation of demand, since it was particularly expected in 2019 that 2020 would be a relatively good year, there were many initiatives of many companies in both the service and corporate sectors to open or expand their existing operations, however these initiatives were paused during the first quarter of last year and as time has progressed we are already in the first quarter of 2021 and we see a reactivation of these initiatives, so we will see the reactivation of demand," said the directors of Newmark Central America.
It is observed in this first quarter of the year the migration to more efficient properties since the pandemic and telework came to reinforce the office as the optimal space to work due to the issue of efficiency of the workforce, cybersecurity and incentive laws that require companies to have a physical address.
"We can assure that the trend is towards a more flexible model of the workspace, although it will not return to what it was before the pandemic, nor is it expected that companies send everyone to work from home, we will have the appearance of a model that is already manifesting, a model that allows workers to work from home some days and others from the office, which will bring adjustments of the spaces," said Carlos Robles and Danny Quirós.
We are also seeing the emergence of aspects such as wellness certifications, as companies seek greater well-being for their employees in all aspects so that they feel comfortable and productive in office spaces.
The properties that present greater obsolescence or weakness in terms of wellness, operations, infrastructure, etc. that multinationals are looking for, has put the owners to adapt them to the new demand, to convert them to another use.
The model of delivery of real estate, has had certain modifications and some adaptations that were indispensable, so recently the plug and play model has been seen, where the space is delivered practically ready for the tenant to enter to work.
For his part, Carlos Brenner, manager of new projects and developments of Grupo Apolo de Guatemala, said that there has been an increase in the operation of Nearshoring for a couple of years and that it has gained strength with the departure of multinationals that were in China, in addition to the fact that there has been a growth in contact centers and shared service centers due to the qualified workforce and a strategic location they have. Guatemala and El Salvador in the Northern Triangle.
As for the Panama market, José Manuel Bern, CEO of Empresas Bern, pointed out that there is a change in the use of offices that opens macro situations to attract more tenants since the extension of the metro to Panama West, the expansion of the Airport; the new convention center, which will be the largest in Central America and the new cruise port terminal, will open spaces for larger corporations, mainly in the banking area that will benefit from the interconnectivity that the underground service will bring.
Meanwhile, Alberto Bonilla, director of development at Garnier & Garnier, said that Costa Rica is registering an inventory built in 2020 that has not yet been absorbed and that is beginning to compete with the one that comes in 2021. As developers in the remainder of the first half of 2021 will have to be more aggressive, there will be a bit of a price war until its stabilization, with customers looking to expand into technology, pharmaceutical, logistics and shared services companies. The return of several tenants is already recorded complying with biosecurity protocols and the spaces have been readapted to work and play, for example that a dining room becomes a yoga room or an auditorium for training.
In his participation, Christian Wolff, director for Latin America of Gensler, commented that 2020 was a complicated, special year, which made things look different and transform the way of doing business, it will look more the flight to quality, with adaptation work spaces.
Finally, Carlos Robles and Danny Quirós agreed that with the return to workspaces comes a decision making of users, whether hiring new offices, adapting or reducing spaces.
"There is a much more positive outlook, we see the light at the end of the tunnel and we started the year very active in all markets and without a doubt 2021 will be the year of adaptation, of working together," said the directors of Newmark Central America.
