(Yicai Global) July 13 -- The average vacancy rate has dropped further in major business parks in Shanghai, according to a report global commercial real estate service agency Colliers International recently published.

The city has intensified efforts to develop global technology innovation centers in a bid to boost demand for business parks.

The total business park property supply will rise by 2.5 million square meters in the next five years, with most of the new tenants Chinese businesses, the report predicted. Property supplies have been on the rise in major businesses parks in the city, and the overall vacancy rate has continued to fall from a peak in 2008 to 15.3 percent in the second quarter of this year, and the quarterly absorption rate came in at 257,000 square meters, The Paper reported today, citing Colliers' data.

The largest proportion (35 percent) of office leases in the business parks went to internet and information technology firms last year, followed by financial, real estate and energy firms, each accounting for about nine percent.

Noteworthy is that 79 percent of the tenants are domestic companies, foreign businesses only make up some 21 percent of the total. As Chinese enterprises have continued to grow in recent years, they have become the main consumers of Shanghai's business park office leasing market, per the report. 

Colliers' statistics on major investment deals in Shanghai business parks in recent years indicate, 89 percent of the investors (buyers) are Chinese, and foreign investors only account for 11 percent of the total number of deals.