Our quarterly review of the central London office occupier and investment markets
Q2 2019 saw strong leasing activity well above the long term average with take-up reaching 3.0 million sq ft in Central London and with strong performance across all London markets.
Tenant demand was dominated by Financial Services in Q2 2019 making up 30% of take-up for the quarter. Serviced office take-up accounted for 15% of take-up with a fall in average deal size to 23,000 sq ft, down 39% on the average size for the market.
By grade, traditional take-up continued to be strongest for prime office stock with prelets accounting for 30% of all take-up for the quarter. This continues to be particularly evident in the larger size bands, three deals were recorded in Q2 over 100,000 sq ft which were all prelets.
Availability fell to 10.1 million sq ft in Q2 2019 which was 15% down on the 10-year quarterly average with a subdued development pipeline. The vacancy rate stands at 4.7%.
Central London investment volumes totalled £1.7 billion which was the lowest quarter since Q1 2010; however the start of Q3 has exhibited signs of a return to strong levels with £850 million of transactions exchanging in the first three weeks of July alone.
Central London Office Analysis Q2 2019
Central London Office Analysis Q1 2019
Central London Office Analysis Q4 2018
Central London Office Analysis Q3 2018
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