Business | Banking
Occupancy rises in commercial and retail spaces
The influx of new firms led to rise in demand
- By Babu Das Augustine, Deputy Business Editor
- Published: 00:00 February 22, 2012
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archives
- The Gate building in DIFC. Both new clients and existing clients’ expansion plans led to a rise in demand for space in 2011.
Dubai The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) added one million square feet of commercial space last year with a strong growth in occupancy rates, officials from the DIFC Authority (DIFCA) said Tuesday.
Occupancy of DIFC-owned commercial space in the Gate District (Gate building, Gate precinct and Gate Village) was above 95 per cent of leasable space. Occupancy was up significantly in DIFC-owned retail space from 72 per cent in 2010 to 95 per cent last year and commercial space in third-party developments experienced strong growth from 44 per cent in 2010 to 72 per cent in 2011.
Demand for space continued to grow during 2011, fuelled by the influx of new regional and international clients and the appetite of existing clients for business expansion.
"Development of DIFC's physical infrastructure continued steadily with the addition of about 1.8 million square feet of gross floor area of commercial space that resulted from the Index Tower, Park Towers and Emirates Financial Towers developments," Chirag Shah, head of strategy, DIFC Authority, said.
No plans to hike rent
A total of 262,000 square feet of new space was leased to new and existing companies during 2011, a 14 per cent annualised growth. Officials said the DIFC Authority has no plans to reduce rents as new supply of office space comes to the market.
"The current occupancy levels are very good, indicating that the pricing is acceptable to our clients. Last year, we had done a revision of rents based on a comprehensive study of our client requirements and long-term business plan. It is not in the interest of both DIFCA and our clients to change the pricing too often," Abdullah Mohammad Al Awar, CEO of DIFC Authority, said.
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