The office market is shrinking. With the coronavirus crisis, an economic model that had been stagnating for years has shifted to outright negative growth. The impact is most noticeable in cities such as Antwerp, Namur, Ghent, Liège and particularly Brussels, where the tertiary sector is highly developed. While old office buildings are no longer being rented out, new projects are still flourishing on the market despite plummeting demand, which only serves to increase vacancy rates and urban decay.

“In Brussels, before the coronavirus crisis, there were already 1 million square metres of vacant office space,” Isabelle Pauthier, former director of the ARAU, told the Brussels newspaper Bruzz in February. Added to this are 500,000 square metres of buildings that have become obsolete. But, on the other hand, permits have been issued for the construction of 417,000 square metres of new buildings.” The European Commission, which is an excellent barometer of office occupancy, wants to reduce the number of its buildings by 25% and plans to reduce its office space by 200,000 square metres next year.