South East’s most active commercial property firms revealed in EGi rankings

Real estate firm JLL was the most active property firm in the South East across the office, industrial and retail markets by square foot in 2022.

This is according to data from commercial real estate expert EGi, which has ranked property companies across the UK by the space they have either let or sold in the past year.

In 2022, JLL either let or sold a total of 1,834,979 square feet of office, industrial and retail space. Closely following them was CBRE, with 1,817,260 square feet, and Lambert Hampton Smith, with 1,659,440.

In office space, CBRE Ltd top the list with 731,679 square feet either sold or let, followed by Cushman & Wakefield with 325,464 square feet and Lambert Smith Hampton with 239,436.

Adroit Real Estate Advisors led the industrial rankings with 1,431,502 square feet, followed by JLL (1,398,927 sq ft) and Lambert Hampton Smith (1,374,364 sq ft).

Retail-wise, JLL were in front with 202,839 square feet of space ether let or sold, with Flude Property Consultants (113,827 sq ft) and Cushman & Wakefield (101,713) in second and third respectively.

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County Rankings

In Berkshire, JLL were the top contributor, transacting 665,212 square feet across 37 deals. Knight Frank LLP took second, with 565,562 square feet of space transacted across 13 deals, followed by Page Hardy Harris, which, across 96 deals, transacted 291,080 square feet of space.

JLL also led in Dorset, where they transacted 680,040 square feet of space across two deals. They were followed by, again, Knight Frank, which completed one deal for 160,154 square feet of space, and Sibbett Gregory (146,606 square feet across 46 deals).

Lambert Smith Hampton had a year to remember in Hampshire, where they transacted 1,144,022 square feet of space across 79 deals, pushing JLL (with 15 deals covering 727,985 square feet) into second and Knight Frank (four deals covering 501,387 square feet) into third.

In East Sussex, Flude Property Consultants won out, with 55 deals covering 127,606 square feet of space. Cushman & Wakefield followed, with 92,424 square feet transacted across four deals, with Savills’ two deals covering 62,360 rounding out the top three.

Making up for its relatively quiet year in the east of the county, JLL topped the rankings for West Sussex with 1,140,418 square feet across five deals. Again, Cushman & Wakefield follow in second, with two deals covering 151,694 square feet. Knight Frank’s three deals covering 140,890 square feet placed them in third.

Colliers transacted the most space in Oxfordshire last year, making three deals covering 149,248 square feet of space. Following them were CBRE Ltd (114,984 square feet across 38 deals) and Carter Jonas (112,857 across 21 deals).

CBRE Ltd led the way in Kent, where they transacted 624,242 square feet across 12 deals, ahead of Knight Frank (10 deals covering 593,167 square feet) and Watson Day (76 deals covering 297,882 square feet) in second and third respectively.

Finally, in Surrey JLL return to the top, making 30 deals which covered 565,794 square feet of space. Curchod & Co’s 388,399 square feet of space across 102 deals placed them in second, followed by CBRE Ltd in third with 339,248 square feet of space transacted across 16 deals.

Individuals

According to the EGi rankings, Adrian Dolan of Duncan Bailey Kennedy transacted the most space in the South East last year, totalling 326,553 square feet across 50 deals. Fenn Wright’s Michael Moody also had a busy year, making the highest number of deals in the region (87) for 227,999 square feet of space. Closely following him in terms of space was his colleague, James Wright, who transacted 210,991 square feet over 45 deals.

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