Thailand companies rank being within close proximity to mass-transit options more than any of their Southeast Asian counterparts, due to the often intense traffic congestion seen in the Thai capital.
Knight Frank, in its Asia Pacific Office Occupier Survey 2015, looked at sentiments from more than 270 companies regarding office demand and lease renewal.
Ross Criddle, Head of Global Corporate Services for Knight Frank Asia-Pacific, said: “This is our second run of the Office Occupier Survey, and again the results provide an invaluable insight into how occupiers use and plan their office space in Asia Pacific.
“Consistent with our findings last year, rent remains as the most important consideration. We are, however, certainly witnessing a shift to a more flexible work environment – most notably in Australia and Southeast Asia.
“Our findings also support the principle that Asia-Pacific continues to be a growth market, with more than 60 percent of respondents foreseeing that their headcount will grow over the next 12 months – a positive sign for the region.”
Looking at lease renewals, Marcus Burtenshaw, Executive Director and Head of Commercial for Knight Frank Thailand, added: “Each year, the Survey has many interesting findings. The one thing that consistently stands out is the number of firms that continue to leave it to the last six months before thinking about what to do at their next lease expiry.
“Six months does not provide enough time to properly weigh your alternatives, and to put contingency plans into action. This could potentially lead to occupiers facing no alternative but to accept the landlord’s proposed terms, whatever they might be.
“We recommend tenants to start this process at least a year in advance of lease expiry. This provides more time for market investigations, conduct renewal negotiations and, if necessary, to still provide time to fit-out and relocate to new premises. Bear in mind though that tenants occupying multiple floors or in markets with limited options should start this process even sooner.”
While rent is the primary consideration in general, local factors may be more important in some countries. Frequent traffic congestion lead companies in Thailand to place greater value on proximity to mass transit than any other countries, whereas security came top for businesses in Taiwan. Green credentials were placed at the bottom of the list of priorities across the region, except in Malaysia.
Image by Fabio Achilli. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
