Over 1 million sq ft of office space was transacted in the Thames Valley in Q3 2013, according to the latest statistics from Lambert Smith Hampton.
Total office take-up in the Thames Valley to Q3, 2013, is already higher than the whole of 2012, says national commercial property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) at the release of its third quarter statistics.
Thames Valley office take-up hit over 1 million sq ft in the third quarter of 2013, significantly higher than Q3 2012 levels, where total office take-up was 609,000 sq ft.
As such, total office take-up for 2013 has reached 1.879 million sq ft, already higher than 2012, where total office take-up for the year was 1.58m sq ft. If deals continue at these levels, LSH predicts that total office take-up for 2013 could be in excess of 2.4 million sq ft.
However, office supply in the Thames Valley remains down on the same period last year. Total Thames Valley office supply to the end of Q3 2013 was 10.2 million sq ft, whereas total office supply at the end of Q3 2012 was 11.67m sq ft. In particular, the supply of Grade A offices at the end of Q3 2013 was 27%, compared to 29% at the end of Q2 2013.
Head of LSH’s Thames Valley offices, Nick Coote, says: “This has been an excellent quarter and we are really beginning to see confidence returning to the market. Enquiries for office space in the Thames Valley continue to be up quarter on quarter in 2013 and actual take-up levels are extremely positive at over 1 million sq ft. As a result, 2013’s take-up levels are already higher than the total for 2012 and we predict this will continue to increase to the end of the year.
“However, Grade A (quality) office availability of 27% for the quarter is actually slightly misleading because in some areas there will always be very little Grade A space. This is why rents in the Thames Valley remain high, and are likely to continue to rise.”
