Office space market still can not part with the residential syndrome of 15 years ago. In most central parts of cities, apartments remain not only the most popular space to rent as an office but also the cheapest. In the other end – the most expensive offices – these days more and more often clients find offers for what is usually retail space – on ground floors, with shop windows, etc.

In Sofia center the rent in a commercial building varies from EUR 12 to 20 per sq m depending on the building quality. To compare, rents of apartments offered for offices start from EUR 1.5 per sq m. This is the rent of a three-room apartment of 130 sq m near Hemus hotel. In the same area of the capital city a shop of 60 sq m has been offered as office for EUR 30 per sq m, one of the highest levels currently on market.
The most common prices among the owners of residential property leased as offices range from EUR 3.5 to EUR 6 per sq m monthly. Within these parameters a condo unit from 60 to 150 sq m could be found at some of the central streets of Sofia.

Another specific feature for the central area in the last months has been the leasing of old two- and three-storey buildings for business needs. This trend is especially obvious in the area between Rakovski St., Slivnitsa blvd., Maria Louiza blvd. and Kniaz Dondukov blvd. Most offered buildings are toyally or partially renovated, which in most cases includes laminated parquet in the rooms and structural cable network. A two-storey house of 450 sq m could be rented as an office for EUR 3,600 per month in this zone of Sofia. EUR 2,900 per months is the rent asked for a similar property of 409 sq m at Serdika St.


Source: Index IMOTI magazine