Tenants began to return employees to remote work due to a shortage of offices.

Companies are increasingly abandoning office rentals in favor of a remote work format. The reason is the shortage of high-quality premises and rising rental rates. This was reported by the Delovoy Peterburg newspaper on July 30.

"In order to lure employees to the office from a remote location, employers come up with a bunch of additional "buns" for non—employees," said Maxim Barmin, CEO of Record.

According to Delovoy Peterburg, currently no more than 10% of the players in the St. Petersburg real estate market have already switched or are considering the possibility of transferring staff to home mode. However, experts predict that in the next two to three years, interest in remote access may increase, especially against the background of limited supply and rapidly rising prices.

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The vacancy rate in the office segment remains extremely low. According to Maris, the combined rate for Class A and B facilities is about 4%. Daria Tikhonova, Deputy director of the Nikoliers Office Real Estate department, clarified that since the beginning of 2025, the share of vacant space has increased from 3.5% to 4.3%, but the shortage of high-quality large blocks still persists.

Despite the increase in new construction, 101 thousand square meters entered the market in the first half of 2025, which is three times higher than the same period in 2024, about 81% of these premises have already been rented or booked, even before they appeared in the open offer. An additional 55,000 sq. m. is expected to be commissioned by the end of the year, but this does not solve the key problem.

It is noted that demand is fueled by high business activity, while supply is lagging behind: in class A, the rental rate increased by 8% in six months, reaching 2,882 rubles per sq. m. per month, in class B, the increase was 21% to 1,931 rubles per sq. m. According to estimates by Bright Rich CORFAC International, rates in the premium segment exceeded 3 thousand rubles per sq. m., and in the B+ class increased by a quarter over the year.

Against this background, tenants began to look for alternative scenarios. Maxim Martynov, IBC Real Estate Project Manager, explained that some companies prefer to temporarily transfer employees to remote locations in order to reduce costs and gain time to find suitable areas. Relocations are particularly sensitive to price increases, as current rental rates for existing tenants are often significantly lower than market rates.

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According to Sigush Baboyan, partner of Bright Rich CORFAC International, hybrid and remote formats took root in Moscow after the pandemic, but in St. Petersburg they remained unpopular for a long time, partly due to the softer policy of the authorities during COVID—19, as well as a stable culture of office employment.

As emphasized by the partner and head of the IPG office group.According to Veronika Chakanova, the transition to removal is increasingly becoming a necessary measure. According to her, the format can gain a foothold in those companies where the functionality allows you to work outside the office, and the business is able to competently build control.

Alyona Berdigan, director of the Commercial real estate department at Maris, agrees with her. She believes that the key factor here is not so much the area as the cost.

"I don't think the removal is related to the shortage of offices. With the rental price, it's quite likely," Berdigan said.

According to the data hh.ru In June 2025, the share of vacancies with the deleted format was 8% of the total. Flexible terms are most often offered by employers in IT, sales, marketing, and customer service. Press Service hh.ru adds: according to the results of the first half of 2025, remote or hybrid employees can be found in 37% of companies in St. Petersburg and 44% of companies in Moscow.

It is assumed that the next wave of development activity will begin no earlier than 2027. Until then, businesses will either have to put up with high stakes, or look for temporary solutions, including coworking, hybrid, and remote.

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On July 26, Alexey Karpunin, Director of Information Technology, founder of the IPWK Academy of IT Management, and Olga Romanova, HR Director of the Bazis IT developer, noted that IT and engineering specialists remain the most in demand on the labor market, while their salaries significantly exceed the average.

Currently, senior specialists in DevOps/SRE can receive from 300 thousand to 450 thousand rubles per month. ML engineers earn from 250 thousand to 500 thousand, and critical infrastructure engineers — from 200 thousand to 400 thousand rubles. The upper limit depends on the complexity of the projects and the level of expertise.

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