Figures released by the Leeds Office Agents Forum (LOAF) show occupier activity across Leeds reached 209,746 sq ft of take-up in the third quarter of 2023 (Q3). At the nine-month mark, the total take-up across the city stood at 724,853 sq ft, a 7.7 % increase on the same period in 2022.
Businesses signed for 136,915 sq ft of city centre office space in Q3 on a par with the 137,376 sq ft of take-up recorded in the same quarter last year. A total of 31 deals were completed in the period from July to September with demand for the most space coming from occupiers in the legal, finance, IT and real estate sectors.
The two largest city centre lettings in this quarter were both concluded at 4 Wellington Place. Irwin Mitchell committed to 27,470 sq ft and RELX to 12,334 sq ft in the development. Elsewhere in the city, there were other significant deals of over 10,000 sq ft with Leigh Day, Azets and JLL all committing to Grade A space.
Speaking on behalf of LOAF, Nick Salkeld at Fox Lloyd Jones said: “The continued city centre demand, particularly for Grade A accommodation, has starved the market of quality new or refurbished stock and driven prime quoting rents up to £38 per sq ft. The year-to-date activity is encouraging and with a number of large deals expected in the final quarter, we are anticipating a strong finish with full-year city centre take-up set to surpass the five-year average.”
In Leeds’ out-of-town market a total of 72,831 sq ft across 28 office deals completed in quarter 3. The largest letting was at Thorpe Park, where BigChange took 12,391 sq ft of space.
Robin Beagley from WSB added: “We saw a 42% increase in take-up across the out-of-town market compared with the equivalent quarter in 2022. With improving demand for both premium Grade A and cost-effective workspace we expect this healthy level of activity to continue and anticipate 2023 take-up will easily surpass last year’s full-year total of 210,998 sq ft.”
Leeds Office Agents Forum members are Avison Young, BNP Paribas Real Estate, Bowcliffe, Carter Towler, Carter Jonas, CBRE, Colliers, Cushman & Wakefield, Fox Lloyd Jones, JLL, Knight Frank, Lambert Smith Hampton, Sanderson Weatherall, Savills, and WSB.
