The Leeds Office Agents’ Forum (LOAF) has released its quarterly update on the state of the city’s office market which shows local occupiers have, on the whole, adopted a ‘business as usual’ approach to their property requirements post Brexit.
Office occupier take-up in Leeds city centre in Quarter 3 2016 reached 125,321 sq ft, a 71% increase on the previous three months. In the Leeds out-of-town market 65,944 sq ft of occupier deals transacted, which was broadly in line with the 76,026 sq ft of take-up in the previous quarter.
Overall, of the 53 deals that completed, five were over 10,000 sq ft, with the largest being the out-of-town letting to Lowell of 45,647 sq ft at Leeds Valley Park. The other four, concluded in the city centre, were the letting to The Department of Health of 23,762 sq ft at Whitehall II, 12,969 sq ft letting to Ward Hadaway at 5 Wellington Place and at Broad Gate the deals with KPMG (12,305 sq ft) and Life Search (10,814 sq ft).
The current year to date take-up figures for the city centre totals 320,332 sq ft while in the-out-of-town market 283,144 sq ft has been transacted.
Paul Fairhurst, director at Savills and LOAF spokesperson, said: “The UK’s property market may find itself in a more uncertain world, however this hasn’t impacted on occupational activity in Leeds especially for Grade A space. At face value, the relatively limited supply of Grade A space and local economic dynamics have so far helped cushion any uncertainty compared with London and the South East.
“We have continued to see a positive story play out in Leeds however the ongoing supply issues, being experienced in most regional office markets, continue.”
The Forum points to the recent practical completions of three major city centre Grade A office buildings, Central Square, 5 Wellington Place and 6 Queen Street, along with the soon to be completed 3 Sovereign Square, will help to bring much-needed space for indigenous and footloose requirements.
Eamon Fox from Knight Frank added: “Two further city centre schemes, Platform and 3 Wellington Place, along with Paradigm at Thorpe Park (32,000 sq ft) and Kirkstall Forge (c. 45,000 sq ft remaining) in the out-of-town market are all under construction and will help plug this supply gap in the near future.”
The Leeds Office Agents’ Forum was established in 2010 by the leading surveying firms based in Leeds to collate and distribute definitive office market data. Its members are BNP Paribas, Carter Towler, Carter Jonas, CBRE, Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield, Eddisons, Fox Lloyd Jones, Bilfinger GVA, JLL, Knight Frank, Lambert Smith Hampton, Ryden, Sanderson Weatherall, Savills and WSB.
