Cushman & Wakefield’s EMEA Office Fit Out Cost Guide 2026 reveals a market demonstrating resilience despite regular challenges including tariffs and ongoing conflict in the region.
The guide, covering 53 key cities across EMEA, showed average office fit out costs in the region rose to €1,509 per sq m in 2025 – a year-on-year increase of 3.8%. Following sharp increases in prior years, costs in many key markets, including Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, remained stable or, in the case of the UK, even decreased marginally.
The firm’s annual European contractor sentiment survey – expanded this year to encompass the views of 140 general contractors – showed 60% expected conditions to improve slightly (45%) or significantly (15%), rising to more than 80% in Germany, Portugal and Sweden. This is supported by tenant demand for office space continuing to improve, with net absorption forecast to increase to 2 million square metres (msm) in 2026 and 2.5 msm in 2027.
Opinion is split among contractors whether they will keep their prices stable (39%) or slightly increase (57%) over the near term. More than three-quarters (78%) expect their own costs, in the form of raw materials and labour, to rise showing their margin dilemma: either raise prices or hold them and accept tighter margins.
Nic Wilkinson, Vice President – Project & Development Services, EMEA said: “Fit out costs and project delivery conditions normalized in most European markets in 2025, with workloads manageable and initial concerns about tariffs affecting supply chains largely unfounded – with two-thirds of contractors reporting they had no impact.
“Relatively subdued office development pipelines reflect construction and material costs spiking in prior years. Combined with intense occupier competition for high-quality space, it makes early planning and disciplined project execution even more critical. Looking ahead, we expect demand for high quality, experience-led fit outs to continue to grow, as occupiers continue to prioritise workplaces that support productivity and wellbeing across the region.”
Fit Out Cost Movements (YoY, 2025 → 2026)
The 2026 Guide reports a divergence in average city level fit out costs (measured in EUR per sq m) across Europe:
- Costs rising: Ireland and Slovakia posted notable year-on-year increases (Dublin: €2,300 vs €2,100; Bratislava: €1,300 vs €1,140)
- Costs falling: the UK, which has four of the region’s 10 most expensive cities including top spot (London: €2,668), was the only European market where average costs declined, albeit marginally with the biggest dip less than 0.2%
- Costs steady: Germany, with four cities led by Hamburg (€2,512) occupying places 2 to 5 in the list of most expensive markets, stayed flat year-on-year, along with notable markets Norway (Oslo: €1,770), Belgium (Brussels: €1,661), Denmark (Copenhagen: €1,661), Finland (Helsinki: €1,558) and Netherlands (Amsterdam: €1,250)
- Best value: Croatia (Zagreb: €750) is Europe’s most cost competitive market
These cost movements reflect evolving local construction dynamics and broader economic adjustments influencing material, labour and delivery markets across the region.
Outlook
Wilkinson said: “Active conflicts and the threat of new ones, rising geopolitical risks and wide-ranging U.S. tariffs on imports created notable challenges in 2025. As a result, global trade conditions were uneven and supply chains faced periodic disruption.
“Looking ahead, ongoing geopolitical developments, including continued uncertainty linked to the conflict in the Middle East, could place renewed pressure on energy markets, inflation and the availability of materials and labour. While the market has shown resilience to date, these factors remain a key risk to future supply chain stability and pricing.”
