More than one-in-seven office landlords say their office buildings are at risk of closing in the next five years due to affordability concerns, a new survey of 250 UK office landlords commissioned by workspace provider infinitSpace has revealed.

This comes as a quarter (25%) say their office buildings do not currently generate a profit and a third (31%) of office landlords report struggling with rising debt repayments. Moreover, a fifth (20%) lack confidence that they will be able to afford to pay off the debt secured on their commercial properties.

Meanwhile, nearly half (48%) say high inflation has made their properties' ongoing operational costs difficult to manage.  

Some landlords have already taken action to mitigate the damage caused by the challenging economic climate. 17% have already or are planning to sell off office buildings to remain buoyant, while a fifth (20%) have been forced to make redundancies in the past two years.

Despite these challenges, many landlords expressed optimism for the future of the market, with half (50%) of respondents feeling confident in the financial performance of their office building portfolios over the next five years. Meanwhile, 61% believe office occupancy rates will increase over the same period.