The performance represents the exits of companies that chose to work from home, reducing their offices or even closure of activities due to the pandemic’s crisis. Unlike the previous quarter, which saw the departure of large areas, the returns took place in smaller spaces and more significant numbers in this period.

Many decided to break their leases. The most expressive departure was from Latam, which handed over the property to the last 5,598.16 square meters that it still rented at the United Nations Business Space. Oracle returned 4,238.34 square meters at Morumbi Corporate, with half of the towers’ area.

The rest of the returns were all under 4,000 square meters, mainly from companies that occupied 4 or 5 floors and returned part of them, reducing office space to save while their employees work from home. Itaú returned 3,829.75 square meters at the Faria Lima Financial Center, GetNet left 2,743.80 square meters from Birmann 12, and Prodam (state data processing company) from Centro Empresarial Água Branca (minus 3,600 square meters). Coca-Cola left 3,498.20 square meters in the GT Plaza (Santo Amaro region) and, until further notice, will only maintain one floor at EZ Towers in addition to offices within its industrial areas.

According to SiiLA’s assessment, this behavior should continue in the next quarters of 2021. “This whole pandemic time ended up allowing companies to understand better how it would be possible to reduce costs. For some, the choice at that time was to return rented spaces”, says Giancarlo Nicastro, CEO of SiiLA Brasil.

Three of the major departures took place at Chácara Santo Antônio, which closed the year with a high standard vacancy rate of 45%. In the region, net absorption in the period was negative by 11 thousand square meters (with gross absorption of only 1,449 square meters). The index of properties available in this area is not worse than in Santo Amaro, which reached a 47% vacancy rate in December, after the entry of 5,275 square meters in the market - the only delivery of new high-end inventory in the CBDs regions of City.

In addition to dropouts, there were also some changes to address. Machado Meyer Sendacz Opice Advogados, for example, moved almost entirely from Seculum to Seculum 2, around Faria Lima.

Vacancy on the rise

In the general market of São Paulo, considering properties A +, A, and B and in all commercial regions mapped, the fourth quarter of 2020 ended with one of the worst results in terms of net absorption of recent times: -70.3 thousand square meters. Gross absorptions in the 20 regions monitored by SiiLA totaled 74,223 m², and new developments added 19,823 square meters to the total inventory. The market suffered from the excess of vacant properties, which tends to remain in the coming months. The SiiLA survey indicates that, in December, the vacancy rate spiked by 17.96%.