Cambridge deal sizes drop below 3,000 sq ft
Number of deals on the increase, but average sizes fall, as supply crunch starts to hit market
Going up – Barker Storey Matthews
Barker Storey Matthews is EG’s biggest mover. The agent more than trebled the space it transacted compared to this time last year. Although the number of deals the agent was involved with rose by less than a third, the amount of space went from 19,000 sq ft in the 12 months to end of June 2012, to nearly 62,000 sq ft this year, earning it fifth place in this year’s league table.
Its performance was boosted by a large deal to printing firm Domino, which took 35,000 sq ft on Saxon Way, Bar Hill in north Cambridge. Ben Green, director at BSM, says its placing was as a direct result of concentrating on the larger deals. “We won’t move away from the churn work but we’re trying to exploit the market and get in on those bigger instructions and increase our market share,” he says. There are no immediate plans to expand the team, adds Green, but it is keen to keep increasing its activity.
Going down – Savills
Both of our top two agents slipped this year, but Savills saw the space it transacted almost halve in the 12 months to the end of June 2013, although it did still act on a quarter of all deals in the market. Its largest deal in that time frame was the 23,000 sq ft letting to Mathworks on Cambridge Business Park, which compares with the 49,000 sq ft letting last year to Inca Digital Printers on Coldhams Lane.
“Run January to December we think 2013’s figures will be on a par with 2012,” says Rob Sadler, director of commercial at Savills, adding:”Since the cut-off date we’ve done two big prelets; 60,000 sq ft at Chesterford and a 50,000 sq ft on Cambridge Science Park and those two deals alone would have nearly doubled take-up.”
To see the full breakdown of the 2013 league table, go to www.estatesgazette.com/blogs/focus
