The Leeds Office Agents’ Forum (LOAF) has released its quarterly update on the state of the city’s office market with figures showing that occupier take-up reached 112,103 sq ft in Leeds city centre in the third quarter of 2015 (Q3) over 36 deals. Q3 activity in the out-of-town market reached 72,314 sq ft over 21 deals compared with just 35,305 sq ft over the same period last year.
With less than three months until the end of 2015, year to date city centre take-up stands at 412,918 sq ft while 169,551 sq ft has been transacted in the out-of-town market. The Forum anticipates that the final full year city centre total will be in the region of 575,000 – 600,000 sq ft approximately 25% above the five year running average.
The largest city centre office transactions to complete were the acquisition of 17-19 York Place by the Church of England and the letting of 8,718 sq ft to Secretary of State for Health at 1 Trevelyan Square on Boar Lane.
Matthew Tootell from Bilfinger GVA and spokesperson for LOAF, said: “What is encouraging about this quarter is the overall level of activity – in all we saw 57 deals completed. In comparison with the rest of 2015, we’ve seen no larger sized city centre ‘trophy’ deals or pre-lets – just a healthy number of ‘bread-and-butter’ transactions across the 5,000 – 10,000 sq ft size bracket.”
In the out-of-town office market the letting to Reed Elsevier of 12,306 sq ft at City West (Building 3) was the largest sized deal to complete in the third quarter.
Richard Fraser from Carter Towler added: “We have seen the highest level of out-of-town take-up in quarter three. This was a very much a case of quality over quantity as four of these transactions were for over 10,000 sq ft which bodes well for the state of the market longer term.
“The ongoing supply issue for good quality space has been well documented. This scarcity means headline office rents continue to creep upwards and with the new builds and refurbishments coming through are pushing city centre quoting rents towards £30 per sq ft.”
The Leeds Office Agents’ Forum was established by the leading surveying firms based in Leeds to collate and distribute definitive market data. Its members are BNP Paribas, Carter Towler, CBRE, Colliers International, DTZ, Eddisons, Fox Lloyd Jones, Bilfinger GVA, JLL, Knight Frank, Lambert Smith Hampton, Ryden, Sanderson Weatherall, Savills and WSB.
