Brighter times for out of town office market

The latest Leeds Office Agents Forum (LOAF) study reveals that 76,026 sq ft of office space was taken up by occupiers in the out of town market in the second quarter of 2016, compared with 73,103 sq ft in Leeds city centre.

Dan Hodge from Ryden, who is also a LOAF spokesman, said: “Office take-up has been somewhat quieter in Q2 as a number of occupiers became more cautious in the build up to the referendum. Notably however, we continued to see very encouraging signs in the out of town market.

“We’ve also seen upward movement in prime office rents across both markets with headline rents in the region of £28.00 per sq ft for prime city centre space and thought to be in excess of £20 per sq ft in the out of town market. In the short term, it is likely with the existing tight supply of Grade A space, that headline office rents will largely remain unchanged.”

Roddy Morrison, from Colliers International, said: “2016 was always going to be more challenging compared with the last two or three years of strong transaction levels.”