The Big Nine
Quarterly review of take-up in the major regional office occupier markets in the UK.
With a total 1.88m sq ft transacted, Q1 was a reasonably healthy quarter across the Big Nine, with take-up volumes just 3% below typical levels. A total of 437 deals completed in Q1, which on a rolling 12-month basis was down 16% on the post-pandemic peak of 538 in Q4 2022.
With inflation more under control than in recent quarters, and the Bank of England likely having reached its peak interest rate, forecasts for growth remain improved from previous quarters. Although Oxford Economics estimate that Q1’s GDP fell slightly, its forecast for Q2 projects growth of 0.2% on an annualised basis. We believe that financial markets are now overestimating the risk of inflation and therefore rate cuts from the Bank of England and European Central Bank can still be expected to make their first rate cut sooner rather than later.
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