Ten-year Belgium office and retail markets with a digression on vacancy modelling

Abstract

Publicly available data concerning the dynamics on the Belgian commercial real estate markets are scarce. This paper fills this void and collects data on an annual frequency on both the demand and the supply side of Belgian office and retail markets. We also provide information on the transactions, the prices and the rents. In order to interpret the data in the right institutional setting, some organizational aspects are discussed as well. We highlight the role of the vacancy rate and try to estimate the “natural” vacancy rate. Finally, we give an outlook.