Cardiff’s office market is set for the lowest rental growth in the UK next year.
Forecasts by GVA in this week’s Estates Gazette show that average rental growth in the Welsh capital will register the only dip into the red in the UK. Headline rents will remain static at £21 per sq ft.
The best rental growth will be in London’s West End which will see a 4% growth in headline rents.
Local agents in Cardiff are bearish about the city’s prospects. Gary Carver, head of office agency at Savills, said while the statistics pointed to a record 2011, several large deals such as Admiral’s 220,000 sq ft prelet had masked the true situation.
“Next year will be harder than this year,” he said. Carver added that with some of the lowest levels of Grade A stock in the UK: “we’ve got the age old problem of trying to attract occupiers to Cardiff but we haven’t got any stock to offer them and now is not the time to be speculating.”
Click below to hear Nadia Elghamry talk to Carver and find out why he thinks 2012 will be an even tougher year for the city.
nadia.elghamry@estatesgazette.com
