Only Three São Paulo Office Districts Beat Inflation in 10 Years

The numbers alone, however, do not tell the full story. Each market must be examined individually to understand what produced the result and what it means for that particular district.

Faria Lima, the country’s largest financial hub, grew at a balanced pace both before and after the pandemic. With a vacancy rate of 9%, the district displayed an unusual pattern: it recorded the second-highest gross absorption over the past year while also posting the second-lowest net absorption.

Faria Lima has one of the most expensive rental rates per square meter in the city, behind only Itaim Bibi.

The Itaim district, which recorded the second-highest increase, has an office stock comprising only four properties. Its most recently completed building, delivered in the third quarter of 2024, was the main factor slowing the district’s rental growth. In the latest quarter, the average market rent stood at R$309.10.

JHA Corporate Boutique has a market rent of R$255.55. The smaller a district’s office stock, the greater the impact that the arrival of a new property can have on its average. Excluding this building, Itaim’s rent appreciation would have reached 62.48%, slightly below cumulative inflation.

The same phenomenon can be seen with Edifício Arquipeo in Vila Leopoldina. Delivered in 2024, the property has already lifted the district’s average rent.

The 55,300-sqm building is currently 84% occupied by companies in the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate sectors, as well as Technology, Advertising, Media and Information. These are also the most prevalent business sectors in the district.

With a premium office stock comprising only seven buildings, Vila Leopoldina cannot yet be considered a preferred leasing destination. Its current vacancy rate is 40.38%, and its rent appreciation over the same period falls to 32.94% when Arquipeo is excluded.

The JK district, which has a total of 11 buildings, was also affected by the delivery of a new property in 2024. With a market rent of R$211.19, the new building reduced the district’s overall rental appreciation. When it is excluded from the calculation, rent appreciation rises to 57%.

Finance is currently the leading business sector in JK, accounting for 145,800 sqm of the district’s total office stock of 340,000 sqm. The district’s market rent currently stands at R$271.76.

Santo Amaro was the only district to record a decline. With a vacancy rate of 54.02%, its 10 premium office properties need to price their space much more aggressively. Asking rent stands at R$38.44, compared with a market rent of R$43.16.

The district’s distance from other corporate hubs and its local infrastructure, which is not yet sufficiently developed to serve large companies, are among the factors contributing to the decline.

Rebouças, however, moved in the opposite direction. Although it has only nine properties, its vacancy rate is just 4.34%.

The district’s premium office stock began to gain scale in 2022 and quickly became relevant. Rebouças is now considered one of the most promising growth areas in São Paulo’s office market.

Its average market rent stands at R$173.84. The headline completion in the latest quarter was Biosquare, a 30,000-sqm building that has already been fully preleased by Amazon.