Occupier Requirements in Commercial Real Estate Markets

Abstract

Changes in the business environment associated with globalisation, innovation in information and communications technologies and the drive towards more flexible production systems should be reflected in changes in occupational requirements for property. Although much research assumes that property, as a derived demand, will simply be supplied in response to changed demand, in practice, the institutional structure of the market can act as a constraint on the provision of appropriate space. Empirical research into new working practices and their impact on the property portfolio suggest that change is muted and gradual. In part, this reflects resistance to the adoption of working practices; in part, it reflects the inertia of a traditional model of property procurement. However, there is growing evidence of innovation in the nature of provision and more active and strategic management of the property resource. Research in this area, as in many other areas of real estate, is hampered by lack of reliable and accessible data. However, it is also damaged by a lack of attention to theory and methodology, with too much emphasis on anecdote, assertion and unsound empiricism. A more rigorous approach to research is needed if the dynamics of corporate real estate are to be fully understood.