Central London office take up boosted by pre let activity

CBRE reports office space take up at highest level since December 2010

Article posted: 15 Dec 2011

The market for office space in Central London witnessed a surge in leasing activity as take-up jumped to 1.1m sq ft in November, an increase of 80% on the previous month and marking the highest level since December 2010, according to CBRE. As a result of Aon’s completion on the pre-let of 191,700 sq ft at British Land’s Leadenhall Building, the strongest performing market was that of office space in the City.

Office availability also rose steadily to 15.6m sq ft, following a large quantity of second hand space coming back onto the Central London market – this represents an availability rate of 7.1%.

Digby Flower, Executive Director, CBRE said: “The strong take-up in November was down to deals completing from earlier in the year. There is still a sizable amount of space under offer which should translate into leasing activity over the next six months. Beyond this, occupiers are likely to delay taking space until there is greater clarity on the macroeconomic picture.”

Active requirements in the Central London market rose by 5% in November to reach 13.1 million square feet. The most significant leap in demand was for office space in the West End, with an increase of 15% to 4.9 million square feet.

Key leasing transactions in November included 191,729 sq ft at The Leadenhall Building, EC3 (pictured) to Aon. London Borough of Camden signed up for 137,670 sq ft of office space at Phase 3 of King’s Cross Central, NW1, while Deloitte took 87,558 sq ft at Murray House, 1 Royal Mint Court, EC3. Professional services firm Turner & Townsend Group committed to 30,196 sq ft of office space in Midtown at 7, Savoy Court, WC2.

A full copy of the report is available at: http://www.cbre.co.uk/portal/pls/portal/CBWEB.utils_news_public.show_image?id=9323&field=doc1&trans=n

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Posted by Sam