Rising rents, take-up boost Liverpool office market
A flurry of deals late last year saw the city’s take-up for Q4 reach 190,000 sq ft, its highest quarterly return since before the pandemic.
Avison Young’s latest Big Nine report, which analyses office markets in the UK’s nine largest regional cities, found that Liverpool’s take-up figures in the final three months of 2022 exceeded the city’s 10-year quarterly average by 45%.
The stellar end to the year for Liverpool’s office market was driven by several chunky lettings, which included:
- Firesprite’s 54,121 sq ft deal at Cert Property’s Duke & Parr
- Direct Line’s return to the city with a 17,000 sq ft letting at No5 St Paul’s Square
- Wealth at Work’s 20,000 sq ft deal at No1 St Paul’s Square.
As well as increased take-up, rents in Liverpool are also on the rise. The amount occupiers are paying for office space in the city rose 16% to £25.50/sq ft compared to the previous year, according to Avison Young’s report.
Overall take-up for the year across the city region was up compared to 2021 from 370,000 sq ft to 510,000 sq ft, according to Avison Young’s data.
A lack of available office stock has long been a concern in Liverpool, but Ian Steele, principal of Avison Young’s Liverpool office agency team, thinks this could be about to change.
“Availability is likely to increase over the next 12 months as several occupiers in key city core buildings are due to downsize from their existing space.
“As workplaces take on hybrid working policies, the requirements for large office space have shifted, focusing instead on quality and ESG credentials, and we predict that more will therefore become available as businesses look to redesign and reconfigure their spaces.”
Around 140,000 sq ft of refurbished space is under construction and due to complete this year at Kinrise’s Martins Bank Building, and a further 109,000 sq ft is due to start later in the year at Exchange Station, No1 St Paul’s Square and Princes Dock, according to Avison Young.
By way of comparison, Manchester has close to 1m sq ft of space due to complete this year, while Edinburgh and Leeds will both see delivery of more than 500,000 sq ft.
Beyond 2023, 331,043 sq ft of new space in Liverpool is proposed for delivery in 2025 across No5 Princes Dock, Hemisphere, and Pall Mall, Avison Young said.
Encouraging!
By Liverpolitis
But offices arn’t needed…or so some would have us believe!
By Anonymous
For No5 princes dock, hemisphere and pall mall to be delivered by 2025 they need to get a move on. Only the hemisphere has any indication of starting in 2023.
By Anonymous
We had a Big Six report yesterday and a big Nine report today. Top of the league Manchester again by a long way. Some good reading in both though.
By Anonymous
Positive about liverpool, but adds strength to the argument for the council to get a move on with the pall development. Show some ambition liverpool council!!!
By George
5 Princes Dock and the Pall Mall scheme are not imminent, the Hemisphere will happen.
I can`t accept that a company like Peel could not attract a big office development to the waterfront , have they been trying lately? Of course there is always the barrier of Liverpool City Planning Department to clear and that`s never straightforward.
The City Council has no ideas anymore about developing sectors of the city centre so that commerce can interact and thrive with residential, as height restrictions etc have put a block on that. Even now we plots of prime land in Moorfields, Chapel St, and London Road, empty for years with the council sitting on their hands telling everyone how hard done-by they are, they need to put the effort in to get some return ,as the public sector and Europe won`t bail them out anymore.
By Anonymous