In 2022 we witnessed further growth in the level of top office rents achieved across London’s core West End submarkets. This was largely driven by sustained occupier demand for best-in-class space, coupled with a stark lack of supply. As such, the average West End prime rent stands at £122 per sq ft, up 3 per cent on last year.

Soho has been the epicentre of this rental performance, and at the point of writing has witnessed a record number of eight £100+ per sq ft transactions, compared with only five deals above £100 per sq ft over the past five years. These include the fourth floor of 30 Broadwick Street, the seventh floor of Ilona Rose House and the top floors of Wingate House. Soho’s prime rent has grown to £105 per sq ft, up 15 per cent year on year, outperforming the average rental growth of the West End.

Soho’s enduring appeal is reflected in our analysis. Take-up so far this year has reached over 230,000 sq ft, up 14 per cent on the 10-year average for this period. Moreover, leasing activity to the end of Q3 is the highest level we have seen since the same period in 2007, which in turn has rapidly reduced Soho’s vacancy rate from 8.6 per cent at the start of this year to just 4.4 per cent today.

We have also seen the volume of under 5,000 sq ft transactions return to pre-pandemic levels despite the rising level of competition from the serviced office sector in recent years. In fact over the duration of 2021 we saw more sub-5,000 sq ft Soho transactions (95) than we did in 2019 (93). We expect the 2022 figure to be broadly in line with this, illustrating the submarket’s continued popularity with SMEs and start-ups.

While Soho remains a destination of choice for occupiers from the tech and media sector, it has demonstrated its ability to attract financial occupiers (who account for 32 per cent of space acquired in Soho so far this year) from more traditional core submarkets. To name a few, we witnessed firms such as CDPQ, Northwall Capital and Magnetar Financial relocate from Mayfair and St James’s to Broadwick Street, Great Marlborough Street and Great Pulteney, respectively. We have also seen a number of new entrants to the London office market selecting Soho as their new home, for example Trilitech moving to 14 Soho Square and Planet Payment taking the fourth floor at IIona Rose House. 

Soho benefits from its abundant amenity offering and strong transport links, both of which are high on the agenda of prospective occupiers’ requirements. The submarket’s connectivity was bolstered in May with the arrival of the Elizabeth line, which brought new station entrances on Dean Street and Tottenham Court Road.

In a world where occupiers are increasingly demanding so much from their office space, being in the heart of one of London’s most central and exciting postcodes is hard to rival.

Further information

Contact Victoria Bajela

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