Investors are increasingly buying offices and warehouses to receive rental income
On the offices market there is a turning of the trend, when such real estate was purchased mainly by end users. Now the number of those who invest in the area in business centers for further rental is growing. In the first quarter of 2025, the share of such purchases increased almost three times, to 44%. Experts do not expect that such a state of affairs will remain for a long time. The reason is to reduce the volume of office construction.
According to the results of January – Mar 2025, the share of investment in office real estate for rental income in Russia increased by 28 p. Compared to the end of 2024, to 44%, the Nikoliers consulting company said. This may indicate the turning of the current trend, when transactions in the office market are concluded mainly with end users from among large companies.
An increase in the share of investment transactions in order to receive income from the lease according to the results of the first quarter occurred at the expense of a major transaction on the opposite redemption of KR PROPERTIES assets from the Federal Property Management Agency by Kyrgyz Republic Alexander Klyachin, explains Denis Platov, head of the Department of Capital Nikoliers. According to his estimates, without this transaction, the share of investment purchases could be only 9%.
The number of investors has recently increased due to the large amount of the proposal of such real estate, said Ksenia Kharkevich, head of the Office Department of the consulting company Invest7. The volumes of commissioning in Moscow for 2025 will increase for a year by a year, to 1.2 million square meters. m, calculated in the consulting company Ricci.
Despite the low profitability in this segment compared to bank deposits, investors continue to consider real estate as a reliable asset, said Dmitry Antonov, director of sales and acquisitions of the Ricci Office Real Estate Department. Most often, investors consider the purchase of small office buildings that can be purchased without involving bank financing, adds the head of the Department of Capital and Investments of the Consulting Company IBC Real Estate Michael Ghazaryan.
However, the volume of new office construction by the end of the year can decrease by 30% of the year, predicted in Ricci. This is due to the fact that many developers increase the deadlines for entering their projects, explains Ksenia Kharkevich. As a result, the expert adds, the number of office transactions with end users may slow down at the end of 2025. According to the forecasts of Denis Platov, in the current year, the share of investment purchases of offices for rental income will be no more than 25%, which is 9 p. More than a year by the year.
The warehouse real estate segment also records an increase in the share of investment purchases in order to receive rental income: for the first quarter of this year, it reached 98%, which is 34 p. More than at the end of 2024, Nikoliers noted. In addition, warehouses rental rates are growing rapidly, which is beneficial for investors: by the end of this year, they will grow by 10.5%, to 13.8 thousand rubles. for sq. m.
The increase in the number of investment transactions was also affected by the increase in the trend for the purchase of warehouse objects in closed share investment funds, Michael Ghazaryan notes. According to his estimates, in January -March of 2025, about 73% of the total investment accounted for such transactions, in monetary terms, the indicator increased by 17% of the year, to 19 billion rubles.
In the near future, the number of investment transactions with warehouse real estate will only grow, the Invest7 partner Alexander Perfiliev predicts. Nevertheless, according to the head of the investment department and Core.xp capital, Irina Ushakova, the indicators in the warehouse sector may be adjusted by the results of 2025 due to the high key rate of the Central Bank.
