Savills: City office take-up to exceed 6 million sq ft by year-end

Over 1m sq ft of space went under-offer in August, bringing the total amount of space currently under-offer in the City to 2.8m sq ft, which is up on the long-term average by 116%, according to the latest data from the Savills City Office Market Watch.

Josh Lamb, director in the City office agency team at Savills, explains:

“With nearly 3m sq ft currently under-offer we can expect to see an active final quarter. Take-up is likely to surpass 6m sq ft, which seemed highly unlikely earlier this year.”

Take-up for August in the City of London reached 421,421 sq ft across 26 deals, resulting in the total for the year reaching 3.9m sq ft. The largest deal to complete in August saw Convene acquire levels three through to six at TwentyTwo Bishopsgate, EC2 equating to 99,297 sq ft.

The US based serviced office provider has chosen this space to be their first international location outside of the US. The flexible workspace operator acquired the space at a rent of £65.00 per sq ft on a straight 15-year lease. The building is expected to complete in Q1 next year.

Lamb adds:

“We expect to see the rate of rental growth in EC2 and EC3 next year to outstrip the rental growth experienced this year. Approximately 1.8m sq ft of new space is being delivered into EC2 and EC3 next year, and the combined 5-year average grade A take-up for these postcodes is 3m sq ft, suggesting stronger rental growth as vacancy rates fall.”

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