CBRE survey: Almost two-thirds of European office users plan to relocate

Although they are reviewing their space requirements, the office remains important for productivity and corporate culture, according to the survey. The most important reasons given by respondents for being in the office are collaboration with colleagues (85 percent), access to a productive workplace (81 percent) and interaction with managers (77 percent).

With the changed requirements, companies are choosing their office space in a more targeted manner. Nine out of ten respondents would reject a building if it did not meet their requirements for equipment and services. At the same time, the willingness to pay a surcharge for it is decreasing: it fell from 54 percent in 2025 to 48 percent in 2026. This increases the minimum requirements for suitable office buildings, while the opportunities for differentiation through additional offers decrease.

Technology and sustainability are not only changing the space required, but also the requirements for the offices themselves. Almost half of those surveyed expect a need for versatile and flexibly configurable spaces (48 percent). More than four out of ten are planning special rooms, such as AI laboratories (43 percent), and 38 percent expect a greater need for flexibility overall.

Artificial intelligence is helping to drive this development. However, its impact on space requirements is likely to be more differentiated than initially expected. It is true that 52 percent of those surveyed assume that artificial intelligence will reduce the number of employees and space required in the long term. However, experience with earlier, broadly applicable technologies suggests that fears of job cuts in the initial phase are often exaggerated: Employees tend to take on more demanding tasks rather than completely eliminating their work. In the long term, artificial intelligence is likely to increase the quality requirements for office space in particular.

At the same time, 45 percent of respondents are aiming for net-zero emissions by 2030, up from 37 percent in 2024. This leaves them little time to adjust their real estate portfolios and make corresponding investment decisions. At the same time, the supply of suitable office space is becoming scarcer. CBRE predicts that the share of office space in Europe that is less than five years old will fall to 6.8 percent by 2028, the lowest level in more than a decade. Competition for the best space is likely to intensify further as artificial intelligence companies are also increasingly looking for prime buildings in central locations. They now account for three percent of European office space takeup.

Anna Esteban, Head of Leasing and Occupier Accounts Europe at CBRE, says: "Companies are becoming more conscious of what space to keep and what role it plays in their organisation. As the needs of their employees change, the focus is on those offices that attract talent and provide a high-quality working environment. Overall, companies may need less space, but choose it more carefully than ever before. As a result, alternatives such as flexible office space are becoming more important. They allow access to high-quality space and adapt to changing requirements without the need for significant investment."

Mark Cartlich, Head of European Occupational Market Research at CBRE, says: "The survey shows that the demands of office occupants and the available supply are increasingly diverging. Demand is increasingly focused on modern buildings of the highest quality, while the proportion of office stock that meets these requirements is expected to continue to decline. Without sufficient new construction or modernisation, competition for the best space in many European markets is expected to intensify in the coming years."

*CBRE's European Office Occupier Sentiment Survey 2026 includes responses from more than 90 office users across Europe.