Tenants bailing out of pricey Bangkok offices amid pandemic

Bangkok’s high-end office district is looking more like a ghost town as the coronavirus pandemic seems to have many companies bailing out of their pricey office spaces. The increasing vacancy trend of Grade-A office space is expected to continue, possibly until a coronavirus vaccine is in effect, according to managing director of Phoenix Property Development and Consultancy, Surachet Kongcheep.

Business owners have had a wake-up call from employees discovering the advantages of working from home.

“More companies may consider downsizing their workspace by letting people continue working from home, which has been proved to be an effective and economical alternative during the government’s lockdown,” Kongcheep told Nation Thailand.

Jobs, typically conducted in an office environment, have proven quite adaptable to the ‘working from home’ situation, especially with all the new software and tech to keep staff in contact and working together. Many business owners are now asking why they’re giving hundreds of thousands of baht to landlords when they’ve found, in many cases, the ‘working from home’ option is proving popular and allowing them to focus their cashflow on rebooting their businesses following the ‘disruption’.

Video conference call start up ‘Zoom’ has gone from an unknown software to a household name almost entirely on the back of the Covid-19 crisis and the need for people to keep in contact online, and were looking for an efficient, intuitive video conferencing software.

Available rental space in Bangkok could rise from 60,000 square metres at the start of 2020 to over 200,000 square metres by the end of the year, Kongcheep told Nation Thailand. Over half of that space is in the city’s central business district.

High prices are the main reason companies are moving out of the area, he says. He expects many tenants will ask start asking for discounts, if they haven’t already, to stay in business.

SOURCE:Nation Thailand