MOAF: Manchester notches up 320,000 sq ft of take-up in Q1

The city enjoyed its best start to a year in terms of office transactions since the first quarter of 2020, according to the Manchester Office Agents Forum.

The 320,000 sq ft let in the first quarter of 2025 marks the first time Manchester has recorded more than 300,000 sq ft of take-up in January, February, and March since before the pandemic.

AutoTrader’s 130,000 sq ft deal to take half of Bruntwood SciTech’s No 3 Circle Square did the heavy lifting in Q1 2025. This deal was by far and away the largest of the quarter.

Other notable deals included Arden University’s 12,642 sq ft letting at Two Hardman Street and Elizabeth School of London taking the whole of the 24,800 sq ft Arthur House, a deal first tipped by Place North West.

The strong start to the year for the occupation market builds on a healthy 2024, which saw 1.22m sq ft of space transacted throughout the year.

Several “sizeable Grade A requirements” mean that 2025 could be another good year for Manchester’s office market, according to MOAF.

Matt Shufflebottom, director in the advisory and transaction team at CBRE, said: “The first quarter of the year has started strongly, and we expect this to continue across the remainder of 2025.

“Occupiers continue to focus on best-in-class workspace, and this is reflected in the take-up across 2024 and Q1 2025.”

A lack of supply of new-build space needn’t be cause for concern, he added.

“Whilst new build availability is diminishing, Manchester has a healthy stock of high-quality refurbished workspace, which we expect to capture the majority of interest in the coming months and years until the next tranche of new build space is delivered.

“Encouragingly, we are having productive discussions with developers who are gearing up to commence the next wave of new build development”.

It was a mixed picture for the out-of-town markets. In South Manchester, 129,000 sq ft of space was transacted across 63 deals, which is above the five-year quarterly average.

Close Brothers’ 8,800 sq ft deal at Jackson House in Sale and NES Group’s 10,000 sq ft letting at Foundation in Altrincham were among the notable deals.

It was a more subdued start to the year in Salford Quays and Old Trafford where take-up was 28,737 sq ft across 14 transactions.

Matt Pickersgill, associate director at Avison Young, said: “After what was a fairly subdued 2024 there are some signs of a bounce back in the first quarter of this year with South Manchester recording its highest quarter of take-up in 15 months.

“With a healthy number of larger out of town office requirements already circulated this year we anticipate a good proportion of these will also transact during the course of 2025.”

MOAF is made up of Avison Young, BE Group, CBRE, Colliers International, Canning O’Neill, Cushman & Wakefield, Edwards, Fisher German, Hallam Property Consultants, TSG Property Consultants, JLL, Knight Frank, LSH, OBI, Savills, and Sixteen.