South East: Region maintains strong take-up

Take-up across the South East office market – defined as the Western Corridor and the north and south M25 markets – totalled 755,000 sq ft in Q2 2016, taking the total transaction volume for the first half of 2016 to 1.54m sq ft, according to Strutt & Parker.

Take-up figures for the first half of the year represent an increase of 18% on the five-year average for the first six months of the year and 19% when compared to the same period of 2015. The second quarter of 2016 saw take-up jump 16% on the corresponding period for 2015.

According to Strutt & Parker occupiers are happy to accept the premium attached to high-quality space as a number of centres across the South East have achieved new record rents. In Q2 2016 Hammersmith secured £59 per sq ft, Maidenhead saw rents reach £37.50, Staines attained £34.50 per sq ft and Basingstoke set prime rents at £20 per sq ft.

Ed Smith, head of national markets office agency at Strutt & Parker, said: “The first half of 2016 has seen more deals than ever before undertaken on Grade A space underlining the flight to quality that occupiers have continued to demonstrate over the past two years.”

Demand across the South East markets remains strong and, according to Strutt & Parker, identified demand levels for the region total 4.5m sq ft, with approximately 675,000 sq ft of space currently under offer.

Smith concluded: “Despite worries of a slow-down following the Brexit vote the South East market has retained its appeal for occupiers seeking high-quality, well-located space. It is certainly encouraging that at the half year mark we have more space transacted than at the same time last year as well as a significant amount of space under offer. In addition to this we continue to see all of the South East’s key markets set new record rents, further rewarding the confidence of the developers and landlords currently delivering speculatively built stock across the region.”

Credit: CoStar