Central London experienced strong office take-up in the third quarter of this year, with 3.4m sq ft being let, versus the 10-year average of 3.1m sq ft.
The latest figures from CBRE show an increase of 3% on the previous quarter, underpinned by prelets, including some significant lettings such as Landsec’s 549,800 sq ft prelet at 21 Moorfields, EC2, to Deutsche Bank, and Derwent London’s preletting to BCG Consulting at 80 Charlotte Street, W1, in a 150,000 sq ft deal first revealed by EG.
In a sign that the central London market has started to shake off last year’s Brexit-driven uncertainties, the first three quarters of 2017 saw take-up of 9.2m sq ft – 8% higher than at the same stage in 2016.
A total of 4.3m sq ft of development and refurbished space has completed so far in 2017, according to CBRE’s figures, published this morning.
The figures also show that “under offers” in central London totalled 3.3m sq ft in the third quarter, which is higher than the 10-year average of 2.8m sq ft.
Emma Crawford, managing director, London leasing at CBRE, said: “The resilience of the central London market shows no sign of abating as appetite for prime office space continues to see strong demand, particularly among the banking and finance, business services and creative industry sectors, which accounted for the highest percentage of Q3 take-up.
“It was an especially strong quarter for the West End, which saw three of the biggest leasing deals of the quarter. In a continuing trend, much of the recent activity has been driven by prelets, which accounted for three of the largest deals this quarter.”
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