Office space take-up for Leeds city centre crept up 12% last year, while out-of-town deals fell 30% compared with 2018 figures, new research shows.
The Leeds Office Agent’s Forum report on office take-up figures for 2019 showed take-up for 2019 totalled 743,192 sq ft in the city centre, 12% higher than the previous year.
Over Q4, 31 deals were struck in the city centre totalling 164,398 sq ft. Three deals were over 10,000 sq ft in size, including Sky’s move to take up 31,000 sq ft at 26 Whitehall Road.
But while city centre activity was on the up last year, out-of-town office space take-up deals slid by 30% compared with 2018.
In total, 280,524 sq ft of deals were made in 2019.
In Q4, 28 deals totalling 84,483 sq ft were shook on for out-of-town office space. The most notable transactions were Quorn taking 10,580 sq ft at Aeries, 3200 Thorpe Park, and Birds Eye taking up 10,402 sq ft at 3100 Thorpe Park.
Commenting on the city centre take-up data, Cushman & Wakefield office agency associate director and LOAF spokesperson Ross Firth said: “Despite demand particularly from tech, media and services sectors remaining robust, new city centre office development has remained low, with the vacancy rate well below historic averages.
“Based on known requirements and a potential post-Brexit bounce, the Forum believes the office market could see a further uptick in both rents and pre-letting activity in 2020.”
Commenting on the out-of-town take-up data, CBRE director Alex Hailey said: “2019 was a year when political uncertainty continued to characterise the UK property market, but Leeds has proved its resilience. Looking ahead we expect good activity in 2020 but, like last year, the lack of good quality office product will continue to be an issue.”
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