Eamon Fox, partner and head of office agency at the Leeds office of global property consultancy Knight Frank, comments:
“I think the pipeline is going to be tight this year. In terms of Grade A offices available for accommodation in Leeds right now, there’s roughly 130,000 sq ft available. But it’s being snapped up quickly. Heading into 2019 we expect that there’s going to be 30,000 sq ft of brand new space available as a good circa 100,000 sq. ft. of the current supply is under offer in a number of deals to be announced in early 2019”
“Coming forward there’s going to be The Majestic, which will provide 66,000 sq ft, and 34 Boar Lane, which has 57,000 sq ft, and 33 Wellington Street which will have 15,000 sq ft free. All together in round numbers there’s only 145,00 sq ft of new build coming forward this year which is half a year’s take-up at the current rate.”
“In this market, 12 months ago we’d be looking at headline rents of £28 per sq ft, now we’re firmly in the realms of £30 per sq ft. £30 barely gets blinked at, it’s what new buildings in Leeds cost now. I do think that this time next year, we could hit £34 which gets us close to Manchester.”
