Agent disposes of nearly 470,000 sq ft of space – 93% up on last year – keeping CBRE off first place for the second year in a row. Alexander Peace reports
A booming 12 months for the Birmingham office market saw agent disposals rise by 60% and GBR Phoenix Beard fend off strong competition to take first place in EGi’s Birmingham office league table.
GBR Phoenix Beard’s letting of nearly 100,000 sq ft to HS2 at 2 Snowhill helped keep CBRE off the top spot for the second year running, despite CBRE’s 211,000 sq ft letting at 2 Arena Central to HSBC.
Even without the HSBC deal, activity would still have risen by more than a third. An increase in deal sizes to 5,869 sq ft showed a preference in the market for larger floorplates and the growing occupier confidence in the market.
Biggest winner
JLL
JLL continued its steady climb up the table moving from fifth to third place. Its deal numbers increased by 40%, but were well up in terms of size and included a 48,000 sq ft letting at Regent Court to the NHS. The firm promoted seven staff in September.
Biggest loser
Knight Frank
Knight Frank dropped from fourth to seventh place, with disposals by floorspace down 44% and deal numbers by 25%. It was one of the only agents to see its average deal size drop over the year – down 26%.
Biggest deal
CBRE
2 Arena Central, 211,000 sq ft letting to HSBC – double the size of the next largest deal.
