Take-up of office space in Bristol stood at 415,000 sq ft in the first six months of the year, reports Property Magazine.
This figure exceeds the six-month average since 2008 by a mammoth ten per cent, pointing to encouraging signs for the commercial property market in the city.
Bristol has experienced some huge city centre deals in the first half of 2013, led by Bristol City Council's take-up of 100 Temple Street and Imperial Tobacco's new home on Winterstoke Road. Furthermore, the refurbished Tower House on Fairfax Street managed to secure five deals over the period, racking up 10,000 sq ft of transactions. This is the highest number of deals made in a single building in 2013 so far. Tower House is now home to Immediate Media Co, which has taken up an extra 4,500 sq ft on the sixth floor.
However, it has been the number of smaller transactions that has dramatically risen in the region, suggesting that businesses are looking for value-for-money.
Hannah Waterhouse, associate director in the Bristol office of Jones Lang LaSalle, said: “The take up for the first half of 2013 is really encouraging. There is strong demand for good value office space in the city centre from growing companies wanting to take advantage of the good deals on offer while they still can. We’re noticing a higher level of enquiries from potential occupiers due to lease events and improving market conditions and we are confident that we’ll continue to see improvement across the sector going into next year”.
The remaining space left in the city should be appealing to small and medium enterprises, which are looking to take advantage of the best deals on offer on the market. However, councillors must be wary that demand does not outstrip supply, as this will bring down investor confidence and cause prices to soar over the next few years.