Central London offices take a breather
Some pace came out of the market for Central London office space during August, says CB Richard Ellis, following two months of growth that outpaced the general trend. Take-up dived 58% in August to 0.6m sq ft, the lowest level since July 2009. However, CBRE notes that take-up for this year to date has already beaten the level for the whole of 2009.
Availability in Central London fell to 15m sq ft at the end of the month, following small declines in both secondhand and new space. As a result, availability remained at 7.2% for August. In the West End, availability stayed at 5.9m sq ft while in the City it dipped 2% to 6.0m sq ft.
The largest deal of the month, says CBRE, involved Bovis Lend Lease taking 79,600 sq ft of space at Regent’s Place, NW1. The only other deal over 30,000 sq ft during August was at 81 King William Street, EC4, where ICBC signed for 35,000 sq ft in the City.
