Pre-let activity boosts Central London offices take-up – CBRE
Take-up of office space in Central London during November was higher than in any other month in 2011, as leasing activity bounced back after a weaker October, says CBRE. Take-up reached 1.1m sq ft in November, up 80% from the previous month. The strongest submarket was City office space, where take-up was boosted by Aon’s completion on its pre-let of 191,700 sq ft at British Land’s Leadenhall Building.
Availability of office space rose steadily last month, to 15.6m sq ft (7.1%), the firm notes, as a large amount of secondhand space came back onto the Central London market. CBRE notes in particular that four buildings of more than 100,000 sq ft came onto the market in November, including 10 Aldermanbury in the City at 272,000 sq ft.
CBRE says there is still a sizeable amount of space under offer, which it expects to translate into leasing activity over the next six months. But beyond this, executive director Digby Flower says, occupiers are likely to delay taking space “until there is greater clarity on the macroeconomic picture”. The total amount of Central London space under offer is just over 2.6m sq ft, which CBRE says is relatively stable around the 10-year average.
The firm says active requirements in the Central London offices market rose by 5% in November to 13.1m sq ft, with the largest increase of 15% seen in the West End where the total reached 4.9m sq ft. The City also saw a marginal increase in requirements during November, CBRE notes.
