Take-up

2022 take-up totalled 409,000 sq ft across 124 completed transactions. This is the highest number of annual transactions recorded since 2013. Q4 2022 take-up of 100,000 sq ft was 20% higher than the Q4 total achieved in 2021.

Grade A take-up of 145,000 sq ft accounted for 37% of total take-up in 2022. This was spread across nine lettings – the largest of these was 34,000 sq ft to OVO Energy at Cadworks and 30,000 sq ft to Evelyn Partners at 177 Bothwell Street.

Supply

Total supply stood at 1.57m sq ft at the end of 2022. This represented a 6% increase from 2021, but this was largely driven by the return to market of second-hand Grade B stock which is unlikely to let without refurbishment.

Total Grade A supply at the end of Q4 was 428,000 sq ft, with just 82,000 sq ft of prime supply available at year end. Total vacancy rate for the market was 10.5% at the end of 2022, with Grade A vacancy rate standing at just 3.4% as a proportion of total market stock.

Take-up by business sector

The Professional sector was the most active sector in 2022, accounting for 22% of overall take-up. This was the first time that it recorded the largest share of take-up since 2015. The largest transaction was the 15,000 sq ft Grade A acquisition by Burness Paull at 2 Atlantic Square.

Elsewhere, it was a strong year for Extraction & Utilities in the city centre market. The sector recorded 60,000 sq ft of take-up, which is its highest total since 2015. This was driven by the 34,000 new build Grade A letting to OVO Energy at Cadworks.

Rents

Prime rent increased in Q4 to £36.00 per sq ft at the end of 2022. This produced a growth rate of 2% in 2022 and means that the prime rent has grown by 11% over the last five years. Average Grade A rents have also grown significantly during this period. In 2022 the average Grade A rent was £29.00 per sq ft. This was 3% above the 2021 average and 11% above the 2019 pre-Covid average.

Interested in other areas of the UK?

View all of our latest Q4 2022 Occupational Office Data research here.