_Manchester office market take-up on track to top 1m sq ft

The first quarter has seen 61 city centre transactions amounting to 314,733 sq ft of space, which also brought a new headline rent for the city.

Although 26% down on the same period in 2018, last year’s figure was boosted significantly by the large 157,000 sq ft pre-let deal to HMRC at 3 New Bailey, therefore this year’s Q1 reflects a very positive start to what is consistently a steady period of activity at the beginning of the calendar year.

The largest deal was the 47,465 sq ft pre-let of 2 New Bailey, the English Cities Fund office currently under construction to Eversheds Sutherland.

Other notable deals included co-working company Huckletree taking a 25,800 sq ft pre-let at the Express Building in what is its first Manchester operation, Knights Professional Services Ltd taking 16,272 sq ft at Two St Peter’s Square and Moneysupermarket.com completing on 22,684 at No.1 Spinningfields at £35.00 per sq ft – a new benchmark for the city centre.

The positive start was echoed in the South Manchester office market with take up reaching 138,774 sq ft, slightly down on Q4 2018’s total of 147,614 sq ft. There were lettings of 33,591 sq ft to Smart DCC at Concord Business Park and 18,708 sq ft to Landis & Gyr at Trident Business Park.

Salford Quays & Old Trafford got off to a relatively slow start with take up reaching 54,368 sq ft in Q1, down on Q4 2018’s total of 78,489 sq ft. The largest letting was 11,364 sq ft to Capgemini at Venus, Trafford Quays.

Mark Bamber, partner, office agency at Knight Frank, said: “The continued occupier demand we already know is in the pipeline coupled with the supply chain of both new build Grade A offices, and, as importantly, refurbished Grade A accommodation should mean another strong year with Manchester remaining a destination of choice for both occupiers and developers.

“Take up in the out of town market has remained relatively buoyant in the first months of 2019, led by the continued increased demand around Manchester Airport. We expect this level of demand to continue for the remainder of the year with further significant lettings in the pipeline.

“We see no reason why the market could not top 1m sq ft for the sixth consecutive year.”

For further information, please contact: Mark Bamber on 0161 833 7715