Foreword
Making workspaces work harder
Occupiers are working harder than ever to drive value in office fit-out delivery and mitigate against an uncertain business outlook.
50
markets
16
spotlights
1,000+
datapoints
With working habits rapidly changing over the past five years, many occupiers have delayed major real estate investment decisions as they’ve taken time to assess the impact of hybrid working models on business performance. Over the past 12 months, there’s been a widespread renewal of occupier office fit-out activity across major markets, pointing to the conclusion of deliberations on smart working policies and stronger conviction from many businesses around longer-term office space requirements. However, the path towards key occupational decisions is laden with twists and turns. Now, the latest economic shockwaves around US tariffs are likely to fuel a renewed sense of caution. The momentum that the return-to-office requirement has gathered in many sectors is not likely to reverse. But the need to invest in workplaces so they can accommodate more staff on more days has come at a time when financial pressures and economic uncertainty are intensifying. Given the competing forces of needing to save and invest simultaneously, the emphasis on driving maximum value from any capital investment programmes and making savvy, cost-effective office fit-out decisions has increased.
Data drives confidence to invest
Now more than ever, real estate teams must arm themselves with global data and insights to scan the market, benchmark against peers and make intelligent decisions. This will provide the foundation to see beyond short-term shocks and navigate emerging areas of risk. Responding to this need, our global office fit-out cost guide for 2025 has drawn together data from 50 markets worldwide, so occupiers in every region can weigh up the average costs for different specifications – high, medium and low – creating workspaces to suit their needs, budget and cultural objectives. Building upon our previous report, we’ve increased our market coverage with new locations, Hyderabad and Pune. This reflects the growing interest in these markets as cost-effective hubs, with India seeing record office investment levels last year. We’ve also added additional markets in the US including Miami, Dallas and Charlotte; as well as expanding to cover Perth and Brisbane in Australia – all hotspots for occupier investment. To provide occupiers with detailed data to underpin targeted investment decisions, we’ve published a full dataset for 16 spotlight markets. For these spotlights, we’ve provided a full breakdown of elemental costs within each functional zone of a floorplate. This unique approach gives occupiers average costs for walls and doors, ceiling finishes, services, IT and AV – enabling an understanding of the relative costs of investments in different zones to cater to activity-based working.
Taking a wide perspective
Our 2025 data shows an overall trend of increasing office fit-out costs across all regions over the last 18 months. The drivers for cost increases vary from market to market, but in almost all hub locations, deepening skilled labour shortages are a key catalyst for rising construction costs. With few near-term solutions on the horizon to ease these labour issues, occupiers need to work with partners who can help them find diverse and innovative ways to save cost and drive long-term value, taking a portfolio-wide view. Achieving business objectives while keeping costs under closer control requires occupiers to look both across and beyond their current portfolio. A wide, international perspective and consideration of the approaches taken by peers will help to identify new areas of opportunity. An understanding of global demand patterns and construction dynamics in particularly hot markets will enable occupiers to better assess and select supply chain partners and choose the right contracting approach.
With an increasingly fragile geopolitical ecosystem, the ability to scan ahead for potential supply chain bottlenecks and plan to mitigate the impacts of these issues creates a major competitive advantage.
Flight to quality
Quality over quantity is a key mantra for many occupiers, as they continue to invest in places and spaces that will be most impactful in terms of employee wellbeing and productivity. Strategies vary from opening higher-quality office space in emerging lower-cost hubs, through to consolidated investment in flagship spaces, with pinpointed investments in the features and finishes that really matter to employees. The key takeaway is that company budgets will remain under scrutiny for the foreseeable future, so no matter what the individual company strategy might be, intelligent data-led capital planning will be key to making sure the funds are available to make smart fit-out decisions at the right time. By leveraging global data and insights, occupiers can build confidence in long-term planning, and make sure projects and portfolios are working hard to create value now and in the future.
