Enquiries rise as office take-up jumps
JLL’s latest research on trends in the office occupier market shows that at 3.3m sq ft, take-up of office floorspace in the UK during Q4 2010 was the best quarter of last year, and the highest level achieved since Q2 2007. The strong final quarter took the total take-up for 2010 to 10.4m sq ft, which was a jump of 45% from the 2009 level and the second highest annual volume on record, after 2007.
The firm also noted that demand for available office space bounced back during the final quarter of last year, with “significant” enquiries (over 20,000 sq ft in London, over 10,000 sq ft elsewhere) up 39% quarter-on-quarter across its network of UK offices.
Looking more closely at the data, the final quarter of 2010 saw a total of 46 “significant” deals transacted (over 50,000 sq ft in London, over 10,000 sq ft elsewhere), which was up 8% on the previous quarter but down 27% year-on-year. The top three deals accounted for 56% of the total quarter’s take-up, JLL pointed out. London accounted for 68% of all transactions, as the financial and business sectors led the upturn.
The London market outperformed the firm’s annual survey average by 19% and increased its share of office take-up to 54% at the end of 2010, from 26% a year earlier. The picture outside London was mixed, with the Thames Valley and Manchester markets performing well but others coming in below their annual averages. JLL noted that the picture was not totally bleak, however, with Glasgow and Bristol take-up rising from 2009 to 2010 – although the levels in both locations were below their long-term averages.
“A number of large corporate occupiers in a few of the major markets, notably London, Thames Valley and Manchester found the confidence to move in 2010. Some of these companies will have been making opportunistic acquisitions close to the bottom of the market,” the firm noted.
