Edinburgh showed the strongest performance of any city outside London in 2012, according to GVA’s latest quarterly review of regional office occupier markets.
GVA’s Big Nine research shows that regional take-up totalled 6.4m sq ft in 2012, similar to the annual average for the city centre and above average for out-of-town.
The strong take-up in Edinburgh, which posted a quarterly average of 119,969 sq ft, has been balanced by the supply of new grade A space coming through at Atria, which is providing 200,000 sq ft, 145 Morrison Street (25,000 sq ft) and Charlotte Square (20,000 sq ft).
In Q4 2012, a total of 995,095 sq ft was taken in regional city centres and 3.8m sq ft throughout last year – 6% below the annual average.
Take-up in out-of-town markets was 767,000 sq ft in Q4 – 34% above the quarterly average. Manchester and Birmingham finished the year strongly, recording the majority of the top deals in Q4, such as Shoosmiths’ signing up on 19 December for 40,000 sq ft at 2 Colmore Square in Birmingham.
Carl Potter, director and head of national offices at GVA, said a lack of confidence in what remains a steady market was accentuating a state of continuing unease.
“The reality is that, despite slow progress with deals across the board, transactions are not letting up. Nevertheless, a number of cities are in the position where take-up in the future is going to be reduced as a consequence of the lack of future supply.”
Headline rents have remained stable over the past six months. said GVA. In 2011 average regional office rents fell by -1.7%.
GVA estimates a continued fall of -2.4% in 2012, followed by a rise of about 1.5% in 2013. This improvement is projected to continue with 1.5% growth in 2014 and 2.9% pa by 2017.
lisa.pilkington@estatesgazette.com
