Take-up in the South East offices market steadily increased in the third quarter, but availability continued to plummet, according to Colliers International’s South East office snapshot report.
Total take-up for the M25 stood at 1.2m sq ft in Q3, the highest volume since Q4 2010.
Truck maker Iveco took 75,000 sq ft in Watford and Serviced Office Group signed for 33,000 sq ft in Hemel Hempstead, which contributed to the North M25 recording its highest quarterly take-up since before the credit crunch.
As a result, availability continued to decline, with space at its lowest level in 12 months.
In the Thames Valley, availability dropped by 2% to reach its lowest level in two years, 9.5m sq ft.
Philip Papenfus, head of South East offices at Colliers, said: “We will see a far greater number of named occupiers, which we would hope might lead to further improvement next year when combined with the reduction in availability of grade A supply in some prime centres, such as west London, where there is now some evidence of rental growth.”
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
