Central London office take-up hits highest level since 2019
Central London office take-up has reached its highest level since the end of 2019, according to real estate advisor CBRE.
According to CBRE’s analysis of deals in central London, take up of office space has seen another increase for the third consecutive quarter.
For the third quarter, some 2.7m sq ft was taken on, with take-up rising 58 per cent on the previous quarter.
Of the five deals over 100,000 sq ft to transact over the course of the quarter, four were pre-lets.
Over the past 12 months, the creative sectors and banking and finance industries have led take-up. Both industries account for 23 per cent of central London take-up.
The largest deal of the quarter was 1 Triton Square, London, NW1 3DX at 311,800 sq ft, which was acquired on an assignment from Dentsu.
The Office Group acquired 150,000 sq ft at Building R8, King’s Cross Central, in the largest deal by a flexible office provider since 2019.
Other large deals included 1 Stonecutter Street (152,374 sqt ft) and Warwick Court, Paternoster Square (130,713) and 50 Finsbury Square (119,006) in Canada.
Rob Madden, head of London office brokerage at CBRE said : “The London office leasing market is increasingly buoyant as businesses continue to seek high quality and amenity rich space for returning workers. The high level of office space currently under offer, also points to a strong fourth quarter where take-up is again likely to be high, with the possibility of the first above-average quarter of take-up since the end of 2019.”
Availability declined for the first time since the third quarter of 2019 over the quarter, decreasing two per cent to stand at 25.7m sq ft. This was reflected in the Central London vacancy rate which fell from 9.3% in the second quarter to nine per cent in the third quarter.