A fifth of MNCs in China rethink office space leasing plans amid tough Covid-19 curbs, while 4 in 100 cancel expansion
- More than three-quarters of multinational companies in China said in a JLL survey that their leasing plans were not affected by the pandemic
- Nearly 60 per cent of companies were planning or considering closed-loop work arrangements, but many have also grown more accepting of remote work
Four per cent of multinational companies in China have cancelled their plans to either upgrade or expand their office space there, while nearly a fifth are rethinking whether to forge ahead with their previous plans, according to the latest survey from property consultancy JLL.
“Of MNCs surveyed, 77 per cent said their leasing plans were not affected by the pandemic; 19 per cent will re-evaluate their leasing plans after control measures are lifted,” the report said. “Only 4 per cent have completely cancelled their original expansion or upgrade plans.”
Before the pandemic, more than half of the respondents had no plans for either upgrading or downsizing their offices, while 24 per cent were looking to expand and 10 per cent were set to upgrade. Meanwhile, 10 per cent of the respondents were planning to downsize.
For MNCs’ five-year plan, 13 per cent said they were likely to downsize, while 24 per cent were not sure. On the other hand, 42 per cent said they were likely to expand, while 21 per cent said plans were unchanged.
The survey was conducted from June 1 to June 18 this year with 150 companies in industries spanning financial services, professional services, technology, media and telecommunications, trading, manufacturing, retail and life science.
The survey period was done after Shanghai lifted the lockdown restrictions that limited the movement of the financial hub’s 25 million residents for two months amid a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Almost all of the survey respondents had an office presence in Shanghai.