Demand will remain steady, say city office agents

Office take-up in Manchester city centre was 135,904 sq ft for Q2 2010 according to the Manchester Office Agents Forum.

This provides a half year figure of 324,890 sq ft which compares favourably to the half year figures for 2009 of 293,737 sq ft.

South Manchester take-up for Q2 was 136,586 sq ft providing a half year take-up figure of 306,842 sq ft which again is higher than the 2009 half year take-up of 217,283 sq ft.

The largest city centre transactions this year were by Brown Shipley and Marks & Spencer both at 3 Hardman Street, Spinningfields for 15,000 sq ft and 21,000 sq ft respectively.

In South Manchester, BSkyB took around 24,000 sq ft in Stockport and Trafford Housing Trust 21,000 sq ft in Sale.

Manchester Office Agents' Forum spokesman, Chris Mulcahy of King Sturge, said: "It's good news to see an improvement in the take-up figures in many of the main regional office markets compared to the 2009 figures but it is too early to draw any conclusions of recovery from this. It's encouraging to see the region continuing to attract new inward investors particularly in this economic environment. Incentive levels still remain comparatively high but these are expected to reduce over the course of the next 12 months."

MOAF said in a statement that "the underlying market take-up will generally remain steady over the next 12 months. However, there are numerous larger city centre transactions over 20,000 sq ft that are under offer and that are expected to complete in Q3 which will significantly boost the take-up figures for the year. Occupiers are now enjoying the benefits of the current market and best-in-class office buildings will continue to do well in each of the region's markets."

Q2 take-up

The Manchester Office Agents' Forum was formed in 2009, its current members include CBRE, Canning O'Neill, Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield, DTZ, Drivers Jonas Deloitte, Edwards & Co, GVA Grimley, Jones Lang LaSalle, King Sturge, Knight Frank, Lambert Smith Hampton, P3 Property Consultants, Savills and WHR.