Jordy Kleemans, Head of Research & Consultancy at Savills in the Netherlands, says: “Rotterdam is the second largest office market in the Netherlands. Office occupiers have traditionally been strongly related to the port and business services. The broadening of the economy due to the growth of the ICT sector means that this traditional image of Rotterdam is no longer appropriate .

“This is reflected in the statistics.t. The share of ICT in the Rotterdam office occupier market doubled between 2015 and 2020, although it still makes up a modest part of the total occupier market (10%).”

Between 2015 and 2020, the ICT sector doubled its share of the economy. Youwe Concept B.V, LiveChat Service B.V, eServiceware.com B.V and Quyntess, Capptions B.V are all examples of ICT companies that took up office space in 2020. In 2021 YTD, ICT accounts for only a modest proportion of the total take-up (7.8%). This is because these companies are generally in the start-up phase and usually do not require any more than 1,000 sq. m. of office space.

However, the number of start-up tech companies is growing rapidly, for example, Rotterdam had 800 start-ups in 2019 and this figure has now increased to 1,728. In addition to the growth in the number of start-ups, the value of the Rotterdam tech ecosystem has grown rapidly in recent years (+1375%). Relatively speaking, this grew faster than Amsterdam (+900%), the city with one of the largest tech ecosystems in Europe. ICT is therefore gradually becoming an increasingly important sector for the Rotterdam economy.

There seems to be a lot of potential for the flexible office market in the coming years, given the expected further growth of start-ups, but also the relatively limited size of the flex stock (2.2%) compared to Amsterdam (5.9%).

Flexible office providers were hesitant about renting additional space during 2020. It is worth noting that Microlab (flexible office provider) expanded  in 2021. The occupation of flexible office space has increased in Rotterdam (90%) in part as a result of demand from start-up (tech) companies.

Lex van Ingen, Consultant at  the booking platform Workthere, explains: “Although Rotterdam cannot compete with Amsterdam’s tech ecosystem in terms of its size, it has a lot to offer as a city. The city has access to talent from the technology sector (Delft University of Technology) and the business community (Erasmus University), which are important ingredients when it comes to establishing start-ups. In addition to talent, Rotterdam also benefits from the fact that Amsterdam is  oversaturated , and  has seen such an increase in demandfor residential properties and office space.  Rotterdam has become an attractive alternative for both students and start-ups. Rotterdam, for example, has the most affordable housing market of the G4.”

Table: Rotterdam has the most affordable housing market of the G4

Read the full report here.