Central London Office Market September 2019

Central London office lettings in September 2019 reached 1.2m sq ft sq ft, from 57 mid-large size office transactions (5,000 sq ft+) during the month. The September 2019 deals volume figure is above the current monthly London average of 1m sq ft.

September was characterised by 14 office deals over 20,000 sq ft, which were led by WeWork’s long awaited 287,000 sq ft deal at 30 Churchill Place, London, E14; Li Fung’s 51,000 sq ft deal at West Works, W12; Intermediate Capital’s 50,000 sq ft pre-let at Procession House, EC4 and Hana’s 45,000 sq ft deal at 70 St Mary Axe, EC3.

Business services topped the table of lettings by sector, compiled by Metropolis, underpinned by lettings to WeWork, Knotel and Hana. This was followed by financial services, led by deals to Ion Trading, Nasdaq and Triton. The IT services sector was also prominent.

Office deals ‘under offer’ in central London rose slightly to 3.7m sq ft, with pending deal volumes are healthy in nearly all sub-markets, with a number of impending deals in solicitor’s hands.

By area, the City accounted for 36% of the office floorspace let in September 2019 at 442,000 sq ft. The West End saw 280,000 sq ft of take-up. Midtown contributed 181,000 sq ft of lettings. Current London office demand is calculated to be around 4m sq ft in the City and 3.2m sq ft in the West End.

The volume of grade A (newly built or refurbished office space) let during the month, reached 416,000 sq ft sq ft (35% of the monthly total). Slightly down on recent months. Availability is dominated by secondhand space in all London markets.

The large number of upcoming lease events in the core has been a key driver to mover activity. Metropolis research is currently monitoring 640 ‘live’ London office requirements, including a large volume of requirements from the banking and finance sectors, with pending deals for space of up to 2.5m sq ft due to sign in the next few months.