Bangkok office supply to hit new heights by 2022

Options will remain limited between 2019 and 2020 though

Office supply in Bangkok is expected to rise dramatically over the next three years, with projects already in various stages of planning and construction around the Thai capital, according to a report issued Wednesday by CBRE Thailand.

Total Bangkok supply will hit around 10 million square metres by 2022, compared with an existing supply of 8.95 million sqm in the first quarter of 2019, CBRE Research showed. The quarter’s figure marks an increase of 1.9 percent year-on-year.

Around one million square metres of new office space was under construction in the first quarter of 2019, up from 0.87 million sqm in the previous quarter. The projects are set for completion through 2022, the second quarter of 2019 at the earliest.

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About 60 percent of total space under construction in Bangkok will be grade-A spaces for lease in the CBD. Options will remain limited between 2019 and 2020, however, since most of the under-construction spaces will be completed after 2021, CBRE noted.

“Tenants who need space during this period will need to plan ahead because of limited choices” says Ms. Roongrat Veeraparkkaroon, Head of Advisory & Transaction Services – Office at CBRE Thailand.

Around 1.2 million sqm of office space are currently being planned on landbanks around the city.

Still, vacancy rate is on the rise, increasing from 6.6 percent in Q4 2018 to 7.5 percent in Q1 2019. Total net take-up or growth in total occupied space only hit 41,000 sqm, down 36.1 percent year-on-year.