A total of 1.21m sq ft of office space was transacted in Manchester city centre in 2022, up by 15.3% on the previous year, which logged 1.05m sq ft, according to the Manchester Office Agents’ Forum.
The forum recorded 426,872 sq ft of office accommodation transacted in the city centre in the final quarter of 2022, which was an increase of 30% compared with Q3. This was up from 347,141 sq ft in Q4 2021, marking an uplift of 23%.
John Nash, director at Manchester-based office agency Canning O’Neill, said: “The final part of the year heralded a number of large transactions, notably Deloitte’s decision to take 63,066 sq ft at 100 Embankment (pictured) and two lettings of over 35,000 sq ft in Manchester Goods Yard.”
He added: “Rental growth has also continued, evidenced by a new headline rent set in Q4 to Xero at Landmark at £40 per sq ft.”
In Salford Quays and Old Trafford, the annual take-up figure increased by around 22,000 sq ft from the previous year to 277,802 sq ft. There were five deals of more than 10,000 sq ft in the final quarter. The largest was Horwich Farrelly’s 16,040 sq ft at Orange in MediaCityUK, with the total number of transactions completed during the year in this area up by 39 at 126, against a total of 87 in 2021.
South Manchester logged 462,977 sq ft of office space transacted in 2022, with a take-up of 109,988 sq ft in Q4. The most sizeable letting was to Airship Interactive, which took 15,385 sq ft at Bruntwood SciTech’s Glasshouse at Alderley Park in Macclesfield.
Anthony Howcroft, partner at Hallams, said the figures were encouraging and reinforce the importance of the office. He added: “With the evolution of working practices and businesses increasingly demanding more from their working environment, we fully expect to see this ‘flight to quality’ continue.”
Members of the forum include Avison Young, BE Group, CBRE, Colliers International, Canning O’Neill, Cushman & Wakefield, Edwards & Co, Hallams Property Consultants, JLL, Knight Frank, LSH, Matthews & Goodman, OBI, Savills, Sixteen and TSG Property Consultants.
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