Enquiries and requirements for commercial property in Birmingham have seen a healthy increase over Q1 2013 following a slow start to the year, according to research from GVA, the UK’s largest independent property consultant.
Prospects for the regional office market have improved since the beginning of the year, with a start in development activity and greater interest from developers and investors.
In what is typically the slowest quarter of the year, Q1 take-up activity in the regions performed 19% above average. There was stronger activity in the out-of-town markets with deals completed totalling 820,684 sq ft, 37% above the quarterly average.
Activity was particularly strong in Manchester and Newcastle and above average in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Leeds.
City centre take-up totalled 1,096,826 sq ft in Q1, 9% above the quarterly average. Q1 activity was led by Bristol, Leeds and Manchester, with the largest deal of the quarter being a 73,000 sq ft letting to Jet2 at The Mint in Leeds, while activity in Edinburgh and Newcastle also recorded above average results.
Carl Potter, Director and Head of National Offices at GVA commented: “Deals are still taking time to get over the line and the backbone of activity consists of a churn of secondary stock below 5,000 sq ft. On the other hand, there is a healthy number of large Grade A requirements and the time frame on many of these is shortening as lease event dates creep up with the best space in tight supply.”
The Big Nine report highlights city centre and out-of-town take-up in the nine GVA regional office centres, which recorded a total take-up of 1,917,500 sq ft in Q1. The city centre take-up made up 57% of that total.
