While France continues to experience a weak economic recovery, the Paris office market has proved to be resilient. This is, in part, due to limited speculative development activity, having had the effect of restricting new supply. Parisian office rents have grown by 20.5% since 2008, although the pace did slow in 2014.
Yields stand at 5%, making the market attractive to investment, which has rebounded with a mixture of domestic and foreign players. Investment by the Chinese was up 25% in 2014 alone.
In common with other major cities, the TMT sector is an important and growing one in Paris, accounting for 15% of the annual take-up (exceeding 1,000 sq m) in the Île-de-France region over the past three years.
A Savills survey of the French market found that TMT employees are less concerned with the ‘basics’ of their office (levels of noise, security, lighting, etc), but give higher priority to the quality of WiFi and leisure-related facilities (gyms, games rooms, etc).
Understanding these preferences provides insight into what occupiers want from their office space and what landlords/developers need to provide to fulfil these.