While Glasgow may often consider itself second city to Edinburgh, it is clear that occupiers are being drawn to the city, with take-up growing year-on-year and supply dwindling.
This mismatch between supply and demand has seen more and more occupiers look to the development pipeline to fulfil their requirements. David Cobban, head of office at Savills in Glasgow, said: “Glasgow is unique in the fact that there is still significant room for office development, paired with high levels of demand.
“This has enabled Glasgow to attract large pre-commitments, most notably from Barclays, which signed for 470,000 sq ft at Buchanan Wharf, and JPMorgan Chase, which has committed to 273,000 sq ft at JPMC Argyle Street (pictured).”
Take-up in 2018 reached 1.4m sq ft, which was boosted by the 470,000 sq ft Barclays deal. While 2019 has experienced robust levels of occupational demand, the market has suffered from lack of supply and is forecast to reach 850,000 sq ft by the year end. This is up on the five-year average by 11%.
Prime rents are forecast to reach £34 per sq ft this year, a 13% increase since 2017.
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