Central London office leasing rebounded in August – CBRE
Activity in the market for Central London office space to let rebounded in August, with nearly 1.0m sq ft of space taken up, according to new research from CBRE.
There were ten deals during the month of more than 20,000 sq ft each and a significant pre-let at Canary Wharf – the 250,300 sq ft lease by the European Medicines Agency at the proposed 25 Churchill Place – which drove total take-up to 72% above the previous year’s level.
CBRE says under-offers remain ‘healthy’ at 2.9m sq ft – this is down 6% from July but still remains significantly above trend, the firm notes. In the City, take-up of office space was flat month-on-month at 313,000 sq ft while in the West End take-up rose 22% to 278,100 sq ft.
The amount of new office space under construction in Central London rose during August, taking overall supply up 2% to 14.1m sq ft. This meant that the overall availability rate rose to 6.4% from 6.4% in July. There remain 17 units of more than 100,000 available in Central London, CBRE says, including at The Shard, where 589,600 sq ft is available in total – due to complete early next year. Another 389,000 sq ft is due to complete at Cannon Place in the City later this month.
Meanwhile, The Times today says the City is in the grip of a ‘sales bonanza’ for office property, with more than £5bn of office space up for sale in the Square Mile and Canary Wharf. Properties on the market include the Citigroup tower in the Docklands and Tower 42 in the City. A total of 9.5m sq ft of space is being sold, across 83 buildings, it says.
More than 20% of the property up for sale has come to market in the past 10 days alone, the paper notes. It voices concerns that such a glut could put pressure on prices and says that some owners may be cashing in before property prices take another turn lower.
