Manchester achieved its highest quarter figures for office leasing since 2010 with 621,016 sq ft in Q4 2016.
The city outperformed Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds and Bristol, according to the Manchester Office Agents Forum,
The final quarter figures took overall take-up to 1.3m sq ft for the year, only 12,000 sq ft lower than in 2015.
Key transactions at the end of the year included a 165,005 sq ft deal to Swinton Insurance at Ask’s 101 Embankment; a 45,446 sq ft letting to Co-op Digital at Federation House, NOMA and 63,661 sq ft of space let to Manchester Metropolitan University at 6 Great Marlborough Street in the city centre. New build office schemes including Allied London’s No 1 Spinningfields and XYZ building also announced deals on over 50,000 sq ft in the final quarter.
| Disposals | ||
|---|---|---|
| Total Sq Ft Let | No. of transactions | |
| CBRE | 346,807 | 39 |
| OBI | 324,280 | 66 |
| C&W | 317,522 | 22 |
| JLL | 264,290 | 37 |
| Edwards & Co | 241,811 | 84 |
| WHR | 202,565 | 50 |
| Canning O’Neill | 184,023 | 50 |
| Savills | 148,401 | 31 |
| Colliers | 138,098 | 26 |
| GVA | 83,463 | 16 |
| Acquistions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Total Sq ft | No. of transactions | |
| WHR | 171,716 | 4 |
| Knight Frank | 147,176 | 3 |
| C&W | 131,666 | 4 |
| OBI | 126,901 | 21 |
| JLL | 25,177 | 6 |
| Edwards & Co | 15,673 | 2 |
| GVA | 15,153 | 3 |
| M&G | 12,808 | 3 |
| Canning O’Neil | 11,760 | 5 |
| CBRE | 10,239 | 3 |
CBRE topped the table in terms of table in terms of total sq ft let in the city centre across 39 transactions, with 346,807 sq ft. For acquisitions in the city centre, WHR acquired the largest amount of space at 171,716 sq ft across four transactions.
Salford Quays transacted 314,923 sq ft of space in 2016, including 93,000 sq ft acquired by AJ Bell at Exchange Quay. South Manchester reported consistent figures with deals on 546,701 sq ft space compared to 563,453 sq ft in 2015.
John Nash, director at Canning O’Neill, and MOAF spokesman, said: “Overall the market has shown resilience and take-up across Manchester has remained remarkably consistent. The EU referendum certainly made a few pause for thought, but the underlying strength of the occupier market shone through in the final figures. Rents across the city have continued to see steady growth, with quoting rents for refurbished office space now at £30 per sq ft.”
Formed in 2009, MOAF members include CBRE, Colliers, Canning O’Neill, Cushman & Wakefield, Edwards & Co, Bilfinger GVA, JLL, Lambert Smith Hampton, Matthews & Goodman, OBI Property, Savills, TSG Property Consultants, WHR Property Consultants and BE Group.
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