New figures from the Leeds Office Agents’ Forum have revealed that the take-up of commercial property in Leeds has doubled in the first quarter of 2013.
The report revealed that 35 transactions in the three months meant that 253,001 sq ft of office space had been taken up by businesses; a 51 per cent rise from the same period in 2012.
Paul Fairhurst, spokesman for the forum, said: “We saw a solid performance in 2012 with occupier activity slightly up on 2011 levels. In contrast, city centre take-up in this first quarter is actually higher than the first six months of last year and we have seen more activity from the professional services sector during this period.”
Major deals included the Dar Group, which occupied 71,000 sq ft of The Mint, also home to Asda, accountancy firm KPMG pre-letting Sovereign Square, and Shulmans’ take up at Wellington Place. The latter in particular has encouraged the council to further invest into new development schemes for office space. Furthermore, the crash of Cobbetts at Whitehall Riverside means that 34,000 sq ft of new office space will be coming to a market which has seen low supplies of Grade A space recently.
Outside of the city, activity was also impressive, with there being 27 deals and 96,907 sq ft of office space taken up. This highlighted a 73 per cent rise from the first quarter in 2012. Last year saw a major trend of small lettings, but this year seems to be seeing more properties over 5,000 sq ft being transacted.
The Leeds Office Agents’ Forum was originally established to research into the commercial market and collate information about the office sector. Members of the forum include BNP Paribas, Carter Towler, CBRE, Colliers International, Jones Lang LaSalle and Knight Frank.