Steady start to the Year for Central London Take-up and Investment

Global real estate advisory firm, CBRE, has revealed that during January central London office investment volumes reached £1bn, with nine deals transacted, five of which were in the City. Occupier take-up of central London office space was also strong according to the firm, with 43 deals transacted, totalling 248,600 sq ft. Central London vacancy rate also rose to 7.9% in January, with 21 units and more than 100,000 sq ft of ready-to-occupy space available.

The largest leasing deal of the month was the space-take of 28,100 sq ft at Mode, by Barts Health NHS Trust. Including this deal, seven of the ten largest deals that transacted were for space in the City.  Secondhand space also continued to dominate take-up in January, according to CBRE, accounting for 69% of the total figure. The largest deal of the month was for secondhand space, and a further five of the top ten largest deals of the month were also secondhand units.

Leases under offer increased by 19% month-on-month across Central London, ending January at 3.1m sq ft, an increase for the City and West End of 43% and 30% (respectively) from the previous month. At the end of January there were eleven buildings with more than 50,000 sq ft under offer.

According to CBRE, availability marginally increased by 2% in January, ending the month at 21.5m sq ft. Supply remained elevated compared to the long-term average of 18.3m sq ft (+18%). However, in comparison to the same period last year, supply was down 17%. After three consecutive monthly decreases, secondhand supply increased by 3% in January to end the month at 13.6m sq ft. This figure remains 10% above the long-term average level of 12.4m sq ft but is the second-lowest monthly figure on record since 2020.