MOAF: Manchester office take-up steady in Q2

A total of 261,000 sq ft was let in the city centre during April, May, and June, down on the 320,000 sq ft transacted in the first quarter of the year.

The first half of 2025 has seen 581,000 sq ft let across Manchester city centre, the highest six-month figure since 2019, according to the Manchester Office Agents Forum.

The biggest city centre deal of Q2 saw Softcat take 35,000 sq ft at Manchester Goods Yard, space the company has taken on assignment from Booking.com.

Other notable deals included Fitch Ratings’s 20,000 sq ft letting at 5 New York Street and Havas’s 31,000 sq ft deal at Bruntwood SciTech’s 3 Circle Square, where it joined AutoTrader, whose 130,000 sq ft transaction was the largest of Q1.

Andrew Cowell, director in OBI’s transactions and asset management division, said: “The first half of 2025 has seen strong take-up across Manchester city centre, driven by demand from a diverse range of sectors. Encouragingly, tech, media and digital businesses, who have been relatively quiet for the last couple of years have been particularly active.”

Cowell added that the outlook for the remainder of the year looks positive, especially for the refurb market, citing a “a robust pipeline of Grade A requirements”.

“As the availability of new-build space continues to tighten, high-quality refurbished stock being delivered to the market is plugging the void,” he said.

“Recognising this supply and demand dynamic, it’s encouraging for Manchester to see proactive developers like Landsec commencing onsite with the next wave of speculative new build development.

“Manchester’s ability deliver best-in-class environments will be key to the city sustaining leasing momentum and will help ensure it remains a dynamic and competitive location for business to relocate and grow.”

Manchester’s out-of-town markets performed strongly in Q2. In South Manchester 121,000 sq ft was let – slightly down on the 129,000 sq ft record in Q1 – while the Salford Quays and Trafford market bounced back impressively from a slow first quarter when only 28,000 sq ft of space was transacted.

In April, May, and June, 108,000 sq ft of deals were signed in SQ and Trafford, including the 48,500 sq ft letting of 75 Trafford Wharf Road to Warner Bros and UK Management College’s taking 24,560 sq ft deal at Carolina Way.

Steve Brittle, partner at Fisher German, said: “The recent deals concluded in the out-of-town office market hopeful demonstrate signs of the market improving in these locations.

“Indeed, the combined take up for South Manchester, Salford Quays and Trafford showed the largest quarterly take figure in two years for out-of-town offices in the Manchester area.”

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