Waters around the M27 market were calm this year. The office market saw the amount of space disposed of in the year to the end of August rise by just 1% to a little under 633,000 sq ft.
But while the total amount of space signed for was stable, the average deal size took a tumble, down by more than a fifth. With the volume of deals up by almost a third, occupiers are taking less space.
Southampton landed three of the top five deals, but rivals in Portsmouth had the last laugh, securing the largest deal of the year – the 67,000 sq ft sale of the Connect Centre to insurer Markerstudy Group.
Those five biggest deals represent 20% (131,755 sq ft) of the total office space disposed of during the year.
On the up: Primmer Olds
From failing to rank in the year to the end of August 2013 to a top-two position this year, independent agent Primmer Olds is the latest success story of the M27.
The agent disposed of more than 92,000 sq ft in an impressive 49 deals (equal to EGi’s M27 top office agent Hughes Ellard). The cream of the crop, its largest deal was a subletting to Ambrosia manufacturer Premier Foods of 7,200 sq ft at Stoneham Gate in Eastleigh.
The impressive performance was still some way off the top spot, which went to Hughes Ellard, which has maintained its number-one placing by finding tenants for nearly half of all space signed for in the M27 area this year. It disposed of 272,000 sq ft thanks in part to two of the largest deals of the year – the 67,000 sq ft sale of Portsmouth’s Connect Centre to Markerstudy Group and the 23,650 sq ft letting at Botleigh Grange, The Pavilion, Southampton, to Trethowans. Even without these, Hughes Ellard would still remain top of the leaderboard.
Going down: BNP Paribas Real Estate
BNP Paribas Real Estate was EGi’s biggest faller in the M27 rankings this year. The national agent fell 77% on last year’s total, signing tenants for 18,000 sq ft in the year to the end of August. It ranked 10th this year, down from fourth last year, and while it maintained a good average deal size, the volume wasn’t there, with eight deals signed this year compared with 25 in the same period in 2013.
