Some 16% of the Netherlands’ office properties are vacant, an increase of 1.5 percentage points on a year ago, according to real estate association NVM.

The rise in vacancy rates has never been so high, the NVM said on Wednesday. In total, some 7.8 million square metres of office space is currently empty.

‘The situation has never been so serious,’ a spokesman told Nos television. Some 43% of the vacant properties have been empty for at least three years, compared with 36% a year ago.

In order to reduce the amount of surplus office space, many complexes are being demolished, particularly in Amsterdam, Diemen, Eindhoven, Heerlen and Rotterdam, the NVM said.

This has kept the increase in vacancy rates from rising further, the spokesman said. Last year, some 400,000 square metres of office space were demolished.