Boost for the City as office take-up hits highest level so far this year with vacancy rates dropping and rent at new record
Office take-up in Canada office take-up reached 714,683 sq ft in May, which is the highest monthly take-up by volume since December 2021, and the most number of deals by number (36) since March 2021, real estate giant Savills said this morning.
Take-up for the year-to-date has now reached 2.3m sq ft across 151 deals, 70 per cent up on the same point in 2021 and 5 per cent up on the 10-year average.
May’s deals follow strong activity in the spring, which has led to the supply of office space in the City to fall for the third consecutive month.
Available space is now down 2 per cent on April, to 12.7m sq ft, and the vacancy rate has decreased 20 basis points to 9.1 per cent.
According to Savills, the average prime rent in the City has therefore now reached a new record of £84.24 per sq ft.
Jon Gardiner, head of Savills central London agency team, said this morning that “the bar has been raised in terms of quality and specification on new City offices and, to a large extent, this has driven rental growth, however, it is also a fact that rising construction costs are and will continue to increase rents further.”
He added: “The recent opening of the Elizabeth Line has been a welcome fillip for the market and is certainly a boost in helping the ever-improving number of workers returning to the office.”