Here’s what you need to know
Take-up was spearheaded by an owner-occupier transaction for the Chinese Embassy at Royal Mint Court, EC3, comprising 520,000 sq ft of office space. Availability remained at 14.4m sq ft in May, below the 10-year average of 14.9m sq ft.
Under offers in Central London increased by 9 per cent over the course of the month to stand at 4.2m sq ft, a 33-month high. At the end of May 2018, under offers were 46 per cent above the 10-year average. The largest office unit under offer at the end of May was at 11/21 Canal Reach in King’s Cross, where an un-named US tech company is in talks to pre-let the entirety of the 404,600 sq ft scheme. There were 47 units across Central London with more than 20,000 sq ft under offer at the end of May (of which 17 were over 50,000 sq ft).
A total of 1.9m sq ft of development and refurbishment space has completed so far in 2018, 88 per cent of which has already been let or is under offer. At the end of May, there was 14.6m sq ft under construction, 49 per cent of which has already been let or is under offer. Central London active demand stood at 9.1m sq ft, up on the previous month (8.8m sq ft).
Driven by the Chinese Embassy deal, the public sector represented the highest proportion of take-up at 45 per cent. The business services sector accounted for 35 per cent of take-up in May, driven by six deals to flexible office providers acquiring 374,000 sq ft. Over the last 12-months, the
business services sector has led the market with 32 per cent of take-up, followed by the creative industries sector (20 per cent) and the banking and finance sector (19 per cent).
Chris Vydra, Head of City Leasing at CBRE commented: “May has been an active month for office take-up, driven by the Chinese Embassy transaction. With under offers being at a three year high, the prospects for the second half of this year are encouraging as occupiers from across a wide range of sectors continue to commit to London.”
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