Central London commercial market booms as tech giants move in
An influx of tech and creative giants has bolstered the capital’s buoyant commercial property market in the last three months, with business space under offer rising across central London.
Facebook’s arrival in King's Cross significantly boosted office take-up levels, after the tech giant took more than 600,000 square feet (sq ft) as its new London headquarters.
Figures from CBRE today show that take-up within Central London has reached 9.8m square feet (sq ft)in the year-to-date, marking the highest level in over two years.
Among the most favoured areas for take-up was the West End, which saw a 25 per cent quarterly rise in space under offer.
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“Quarter three saw a resilient performance across the London office market, with requirements for space from the banking and finance sector proving exceptionally strong,” according to Emma Crawford, CBRE’s managing director of London leasing.
Crawford added: “In what is a continuing trend, occupiers showed a vigorous preference for new space across the quarter, with new or pre-let space representing nearly half of all take-up, taking it significantly above the 10-year average.”
In the three months to the end of September there were five deals which hit over 100,000 sq ft in Q3; two of which were in the City and two in Docklands.