Prime City office space rents up by 17.5% in Q1

BNP Paribas reports increase in prime Central London office rents over last year

Article posted: 10 Apr 2011

Rents for prime office space in the City of London rose to £54.50 per sq ft in the first quarter of 2011 according to a report by BNP Paribas Real Estate. This represents a 17.5% increase from Q1 2010 whilst top rents for office space in the West End have reached £92.50 per sq ft, an increase of 19% from the same period last year.

Prime office space in Midtown has remained stable at £50.00 per sq ft for the last two quarters and is up 14% from Q1 2010; whilst office space in the Docklands has seen a more modest increase of 4% over the last year with headline rents now at £36.50 per sq ft.

Take-up of offices in Central London in Q1 one reached 2.39m sq ft, while the West End saw take-up total 810,000 sq ft which surpassed take-up levels for the previous quarter, the same quarter last year and the five year average.

Following a buoyant end to 2010, Q1 take-up in the City fell to 1.17m sq ft, slightly down from the five year average of 1.4m sq ft, whilst the Midtown leasing market has remained static with take-up reaching 400,000 sq ft for the last two quarters.

Commenting on the report, Dan Bayley, head of Central London at BNP Paribas Real Estate said: “Following an extremely busy 2010 the City is now seeing occupiers undergo a period of consolidation; and whilst this does suggest that the year has got off to a slower start a number of underlying positive trends are still evident. Across Central London as a whole a number of new requirements are emerging within the market and there are some significant pre-lets under discussion. The imminent completion of a number of new schemes within the City has also led to a waiting game in which occupiers are keen to see who is going where and what are paying before they commit.”

For breaking news relating to office space in Central London follow us on http://twitter.com/officespacenews

Posted by Sara