London office availability rises despite growing take-up

Despite the upward shift in take-up in Q2, central London availability also continued to drift upwards to 7.2% – the highest level of availability in three years, with all six submarkets seeing a rise. The most notable shift in supply is the amount of second-hand space now on the market.   At 11.3m sq ft it is up by 38% on the same period last year, and is the highest amount of second-hand space seen on the market since Q1 2013. The figure has been drifting further out on the back of last year’s Brexit vote and was most likely exacerbated by uncertainty around the recent General Election. In addition to this, 13.7m sq ft of new space is expected to complete over the next 2.5 years, of which only 36% has been let. EG Data’s consensus rents are starting to reflect the increase in supply. Downward pressure on rents at the top mean City, City Fringe and Midtown rents have slipped and others, with the exception of those at More London, barely grew 1.5% on this time last year.