London saw more shops open than close in 2012, kicking a largely negative national trend, a report claimed today.
According to research published by the Local Data Company (LDC), only London, the East Midlands and Yorkshire performed well among the spate of shop redundancies.
Nationally shop occupancy fell from 14.3% to 14.2%, while in London it rose from 10.7% in 2011 to 9.4% last year.
Londonโs West End has the most expensive office space in the world
The West End surpasses Hong Kongโs Central district as commercial rents soar to the worldโs top spot.
According to a seperate study released today by property agent Cushman & Wakefield, lack of space has pushed up office rents 2% since last year.
West End space now costs around $262 per sq ft (ยฃ169) compared with $184 per sq ft (ยฃ119bn) in Hong Kong, which slipped from first to second place.
The findings come on the back of various other reports that London has edged out Hong Kong from the top spot, confirming the Capitalโs global prominence.
London shopping centres performed particularly well with just 7.5% vacancies last year, compared to the UK average of 15.6%.
But poor performing central pockets remain. Local Data found that Londonโs Lee Green, Brixton Caledonian Road, Clapham and Battersea all did poorly over three years, with closures rising between 7% and more than 14%.
Times are also expected to stay tough throughout 2013 for large parts of the UK with LDC director Matthew Hopkinson predicting vacancies could edge up 17% nationally.
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