Central London office take-up plummets as employees work from home
The amount of central London office space leased in the first quarter of the year plunged as employees began working from home and the UK entered its coronavirus lockdown.
Office space leased in the capital between January and March reached 2.7m sq ft, down 30 per cent on the previous quarter.
The government introduced a full lockdown in the UK on 23 March, although many firms had advised employees to work from home before the restrictions were announced.
“The first quarter ended abruptly for the real estate market as the UK entered full pandemic lockdown. Social distancing measures restricted travel, closed workplaces, and for many millions, homes have become the new office,” the latest report by commercial property consultancy Devono Cresa said.
Meanwhile, separate research published yesterday by CBRE found that central London office take-up fell 66 per cent to 225,800 in April compared to 2019, representing the first full month of the UK lockdown.
The legal sector was the most active in the London commercial property market in the first quarter, accounting for 16 per cent of transactions compared to five per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019, Devono Cresa said.
The surge in office take up within the legal industry can be largely attributed to Linklaters’ pre-let in February on 310,000 sq ft at 20 Ropemaker Street.