Leeds offices activity improves in Q1
The Leeds Agents’ Forum has reported improved take-up of office space in Leeds during the first quarter of this year, with 155,847 sq ft taken up in the city centre compared with just 37,000 sq ft in Q1 2011. The out-of-town market was less competitive, but take-up was still higher year-on-year, rising 6% in Q1 to 56,000 sq ft across 21 deals.
The forum says that while the number of city-centre Leeds offices deals fell to a 12-month low of 19, the average deal size grew, with eight transactions of above 5,000 sq ft. “Set against the five-year average (415,000 sq ft), the total city-centre take-up in Q1 2012 already equates to 37% of the average annual volumes,” forum member Jones Lang LaSalle noted. Richard Thornton, office agency director at Jones Lang LaSalle in Leeds, said the larger deals seen in Q1 2012 indicated improving sentiment among bigger occupiers.
“Looking ahead, whilst there are signs that some of the larger occupiers are once again making decisions, there remains a degree of caution in the market,” Thornton added. “A decent level of churn is still anticipated to drive the market coupled with the strong possibility of some large pre-letting activity.”
Key city-centre Leeds office space deals in Q1 2012 included the 63,552 sq ft sale of 2 & 3 Victoria Place for Yorkshire Forward, which is the largest city-centre transaction for over six years; the 18,800 sq ft letting to Gratterpalm at No. 1 Leeds; and the 17,000 sq ft letting to Dickinson Dees at No 1 Whitehall Riverside. Out of town, there were three deals of more than 5,000 sq ft completed during the quarter, the largest of which was the 10,000 sq ft freehold sale of 3310 Century Way, Thorpe Park to Helplink UK.
Roddy Morrison, director at Colliers International in Leeds, said the market for out-of-town office space was currently less intense than the very competitive city-centre offering. “Astute, well advised occupiers are looking at commitments now in anticipation of incentive packages decreasing in late 2012 and into 2013,” he added.
Additional members of the Leeds Agents’ Forum include BNP Paribas, Carter Towler, CBRE, DTZ, GVA, Knight Frank, Lambert Smith Hampton, Ryden, Sanderson Weatherall, Savills and WSB.
