Home Commercial Property September rise for London office leasing

September rise for London office leasing

by LLP Editor
14th Oct 11 2:37 pm

Research has shown that office leasing activity in central London rose during September.

The CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) figures revealed that last month the volume of transactions across all markets exceeded one million sq ft for the first time in 2011.

CBRE attributed the rise to a spike in smaller deals carried out in September, adding that last month saw just four deals of greater than 20,000 sq ft.

Office take-up in the City rose to 337,300 sq ft, and in Midtown it increased to 157,000 sq ft.

But in the West End, Debenhams’ move to lease 145,000 sq ft at 10 Brock Street helped take-up reach 406,900 sq ft – a month-on-month rise of 46 per cent.

Digby Flower, CBRE executive director, said: “Weak economic conditions and concerns about the eurozone debt crisis have been a significant constraint on leasing levels.

“However, a second consecutive month of strong leasing activity in central London has been very good news for the market.”

CBRE said that in the third quarter leasing activity grew to 2.7 million sq ft – rising from 2.2 million in the previous quarter.

However, despite the quarterly rise, the figure is still down on the 3.5 million sq ft leased during the same period a year ago.

The figures are supported by a call from the British Council for Offices, highlighting the benefits of renting commercial property in London.

Chief executive Richard Kauntze said that businesses are being attracted to the “world class” facilities offered by the capital.

He said that the only other city which offered companies facilities and connections on a par with London is New York.

But it isn’t just major players attracted to the city as a base for their operations, according to Kauntze. He said that smaller firms benefit from what London has to offer just as much as bigger corporations.

He added: “In terms of certain international companies and players, London will be one of a very short list of possible options.”

Recent figures from Bloomberg revealed that current contracts are due to expire on 30 million sq ft of office space in the capital over the coming three years, suggesting there will be plenty of new deals done in between now and 2015.

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