Take-up of Leeds city centre office space up 40%

Agents' Forum says squeeze on Grade A supply continues

Article posted: 16 Jan 2012

According to data compiled by the Leeds Agents’ Forum the total take-up of office space in Leeds city centre in quarter four (Q4 2011) reached 87,050 sq ft which, combined with the previous three quarters, produced a year end total of 398,159 sq ft transacted across 106 deals.  The total 2011 city centre figure was a 40.5% increase on the previous year and just a 9% decrease compared with the five year average (437,386 sq ft).

Notable city centre occupier transactions completed in Q4 2011 included the 10,994 sq ft acquisition by Towry at Toronto Square (pictured), BSkyB taking 10,235 sq at 2 Wellington Place and the acquisition by Northgate Arinso UK of 5,314 sq ft at Riverside West.

The Leeds Agents Forum said: “The trend towards smaller sized deals in the sub 5,000 sq ft bracket continued in quarter four; there was only three city centre transactions over this size to complete.  Occupier activity was driven by a broad range of sectors including recruitment, financial and media.”

According to agents the availability of the best quality office space continues to diminish with 43% of Grade A stock being leased in the final three months of last year.  With little new space coming through the development pipeline a number of landlords are taking the opportunity now to upgrade secondary office buildings and take advantage of the continuing ‘flight to quality’ which a large percentage of occupiers now demand.

Looking ahead the Leeds Agents Forum added: “We anticipate take-up to continue to rise as occupiers absorb the existing stock as a result of forthcoming lease events and a lack of on site supply.  We also expect a couple of big names to sign pre-lets which could kick-start some much needed speculative space in the city core.”

The Leeds Agents’ Forum was established to collate and distribute definitive market information. Its members include BNP Paribas, Carter Towler, CBRE, Colliers International, DTZ, GVA, Jones Lang LaSalle, Knight Frank, Lambert Smith Hampton, Ryden, Sanderson Weatherall, Savills and WSB.

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Posted by Ingrid