• International survey of CA Immo office tenants
• Flexible workplaces still the minority but gaining ground
• Location and public transport links continue to be the main driver in leasing decisions
• Sustainability in demand with clear cost-benefit ratio 
• High level of satisfaction among existing CA Immo tenants 

If you had to rent an office today, what would be the decisive criteria for you? In times of extensive mobile availability and internet access, is it still important to maintain a centrally situated office location? How do tenants measure the sustainability of an office property? CA Immo investigated these and other questions by conducting an online survey of more than 700 existing CA Immo tenants in locations including Germany, Austria, Poland, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic.  

Flexible workplace models still the minority but gaining ground
85% of the companies say that they currently offer fixed workstations to their employees, either exclusively or predominantly. Mobile and flexible workstations, either within the office premises, at other company premises or in the form of home-office working, are the principal model for 29% of the office tenants at present. When asked about future developments, companies stated that fixed workplace options will predominate in their company exclusively (34%) or in the majority of cases (also 34%) in future. The sharp fall in the proportion of exclusively fixed workstations from 49% to34% underlines the trend towards greater workplace flexibility. 38 % of the companies in the survey say that in future they will offer flexible workplace models, either exclusively or predominantly. 

Gregor Drexler, Managing Director, Asset Management at CA Immo: “The future of the workplace is flexibility. This new office world will become the norm at a rate that will vary depending on the industry and corporate culture involved, but the demands made of a modern office location will change. In future it will be the landlord who has prepared for this in good time who will remain competitive.”

Open-plan offices predominate, 36% expect increased personnel numbers 
As regards office structure, an assortment of all the forms of office that are customary today can be found, although open-plan offices are the most common: 28% of companies stated that open-plan offices were the predominant or only type they use. Responses to the question about future use revealed that no major changes are anticipated in preferred office structures. What is however likely to change is personnel numbers: over one third (36%) of the companies surveyed expect an increase in staff numbers. Personnel numbers are likely to remain unchanged in 31% of companies. Only 2% of the surveyed companies intend to reduce their staff in the months to come. Nearly a third of the participating employers didn´t comment on future staff development (no position).

The survey also included questions about additional services that companies would like to see provided in the office location. The top services selected by tenants are the availability of a central catering delivery service (58%) and a reception desk service (54%), followed by a mail and courier service, conference service and childcare facilities.   

Sustainable = good location + low auxiliary costs
According to the respondents, the sustainability of a property is principally reflected in location factors and low auxiliary costs. Tenants are most likely to describe a building as sustainable if it meets the criteria of a good quality of location (73%) and being quick to reach using environmentally-friendly transport (70%). The amount of auxiliary costs is also decisive for 61% of respondents. All these factors are also considered decisive when leasing an office building. In contrast, certification of the building is less important as a feature of sustainability (14 %), as are structural and technical features.  

Tenants appreciate the location, appearance and flexible space of their CA Immo offices
Tenant satisfaction is high with respect to the leased office space (97%) and support from CA Immo (95%): 90% of tenants would make the same decision again today about their lease. Tenants are particularly pleased with the location benefits of CA Immo properties: the attractive nature of the situation of their office property, the overall appearance/architecture, and the flexibility and efficiency of the leased space are mentioned as advantages.  

For a management summary of the survey´s results including charts, please see www.caimmo.com/tenantsurvey.   

CA Immo Office Trends Monitor:
The empirical basis of these results is a survey of CA Immo office tenants which was conducted as a written online survey with a standardised questionnaire. 713 companies in Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt, Budapest, Bucharest, Prague, Warsaw, Sofia, Zagreb and Belgrade were questioned. A total of 133 valid, totally completed questionnaires was included in the survey, corresponding to a response rate of about 20%. The aim of the survey is the optimisation of services for international office tenants of CA Immo and regular, standardised analyses of tenant satisfaction and office trends. The tenant survey will be conducted once a year as of 2014. Implementation and analysis were undertaken in cooperation with the market research and business consultancy company iLACON, Frankfurt am Main.

Please address any questions to:
CA Immo
Susanne Steinböck
Tel.:  +43 (1) 532 59 07 533
Susanne.Steinboeck@caimmo.com

About CA Immo
CA Immo is one of the leading real estate companies in Central Europe. The company, which is listed on the benchmark ATX index of the Vienna Stock Exchange, specialises in the letting and development of commercial real estate, especially in the office segment. Founded in 1987, CA Immo currently controls property assets of around € 4 bn in Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe.