Oxford: Office rents in city hit new high, reports Bidwells

Prime office rents in the Oxford region hit a new high in 2017 - according to research revealed by property consultants Bidwells. 

Rental values reached £32 per sq ft by the end of last year with Bidwells predicting prime rents will reach £38 psf by 2022.

Office space take-up figures in the region for 2017 were also the highest for a decade. 

Bidwells’ offices market research looks twice yearly at rental values in the Golden Triangle of Oxford, Cambridge and London, as well as the region’s other significant towns and cities.

Prime office rents in 2017 grew faster in Oxford (14.3%) than Cambridge (2.7%) whereas rents in London for prime office space fell by 12.5%.

David Williams, partner for business space agency, Bidwells, said: “Oxford’s knowledge economy continues to drive rental growth in the Oxford region and these annual take up figures show growth is unlikely to slow before 2022.

“Oxford’s economy continues to be remarkably resilient and prime rents have now grown an incredible 39.1 % since 2014.”

Despite office take up slowing in the second half of the year, 389,000 sq ft of space was taken in 2017.

Bidwells’ research follows a UK Powerhouse Study, released by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) in January, which predicted Oxford’s economy is set to grow by 1.99% in 2018, just behind Cambridge’s predicted growth of 2.2%.

Other key figures revealed in the data:

• Activity in the year was dominated by Oxford Nanopore’s purchase of the Danby Building on Oxford Science Park
• Grade A supply is down to 89,300 sq ft, representing 16% of total availability

Over 80% of Bidwells’ work is concentrated in the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Oxford, Cambridge and London.

 http://www.bidwells.co.uk/insights-and-research/our-view-on-offices-and-labs-spring-oxfordshire/