Pause for office occupiers
The latest survey of occupier trends published by King Sturge last week shows that demand for office space in the UK fell by 21% in the second half of 2009.
There were sharp differences between sectors, with the financial services sector taking up the most office space during the third quarter of last year, boosted by Nomura’s 540,000 sq ft letting at Watermark Place in September. In the last quarter of 2009, the most active occupier sector was accountancy and legal services.
There were signs of strong activity in regional centres, led by the 145,000 sq ft letting to Manchester City Council in Ask Developments’ First Street Manchester in December and Tesco Finance’s 100,000 sq ft deal at Newcastle’s Quorum business park in October.
In total, the take-up of office space in the final quarter of 2009 was 2.3 million sq ft, which was a drop of 5% from the third quarter, but a jump of 60% from the level in Q4 2008.
