Forton International found that rents for office space in Bulgaria’s capital city have declined by two per cent in the first quarter of this year.
Currently, offices in the city’s main commercial area are being rented for just €12 per square metre, according to the report. In areas on the outskirts of the city, rent is as low as €8 per square metre.
Rent for offices in other major Eastern European cities such as Riga, Tallinn, Belgrade and Zagreb is on average five Euros higher.
Currently, Sofia boasts approximately 1,364,000 square metres of office space, with 40,000 square metres having been added in the first quarter of this year alone.
“The top-class office space that [is] entering the market now [is] practically introducing new standards in office space. The opportunities they present as well as the good price-quality balance lead many companies to move to new offices.
“The relocations, which are the major share of the deals on the office space market right now, combined with the high level of supply of new space, explain the growing amount of unoccupied office space,” said Forton International Office Space Manager Vladislav Kayzerov.
The Forton report also stated that there are currently 560,000 square metres of office space under construction in the city.
Sofia is currently the 12th-largest city by population in the EU, with 1.2 million people. The city is the economic centre of Bulgaria and is home to the headquarters of most of the country’s major domestic and international companies.
In 2008, apartment prices in the city rose by 30 per cent.
Editor’s notes: In Q1 2023, it was reported that Sofia had registered a net absorption of 70,000 square metres in 2022, reflecting the strongest year for its office space market since the pandemic.
The total office leasing volume for 2022 was 123,500 square metres, resulting in a vacancy rate of 16.1 per cent in Sofia.
In the first quarter of 2023, there were 246,000 square metres of office space under construction, with the largest proportion in Tzarigradsko shose and Hladilnika.
During that period, it was expected that the rate of new construction starts would be affected by 20-year inflation rates that were increasing construction costs and the cost of debt, thereby reducing supply.
Additionally, many office leases in Sofia are attached to indexation, so it was expected that office rental levels would increase significantly in 2023.
At the beginning of the year, Class A office space commanded a range of €12.5-15.5 per square metre, while Class B rental levels were between €8.0 and €10.5 per square metre.
In July 2026, CBRE reported that Sofia’s office market remained resilient in the first half of 2026, supported by strong demand for high-quality office space and a declining vacancy rate.
There was over 1.9 million square metres of speculative stock in the market, while ongoing development activity and investment transactions reflected continued confidence in the sector.
A further 128,000 square metres of new office space was expected to be delivered by the end of 2026, with several major projects underway at the time of publication.
Prime rents were €20 per square metre and the vacancy rate across Class A and Class B office space was 12 per cent.